Star Crossed Sarcasm
by fairyfan777
Summary: AU. Lucy is a princess who decides to court a foreign prince to help her impoverished country. That prince is Ivan, and Lucy immediately finds herself annoyed by his son, the Great Disruptor, Prince Laxus. The irreverent young prince can have any woman in the world. Except her. Problem? She's the only one he wants. Lalu!
1. The Princess and Her Purpose

"Father."

Lucy's voice was clear and confident, but most of the strength in her step was bravado and the rest was that tiny smidgen of her pride that was left after she faced the grim truth before her.

King Jude turned slightly to face her.

He was a hard man, stern and difficult to please. Lucy had humiliated him by running away from home to avoid marriage to King Sawarr of Brago, a rotund, arrogant middle-aged man who lusted after her like a dog pants for water after a good run.

She was princess of Caelum, the only child her late mother.

Lucy always hated her father for his disposition, for how much he ignored her and how much he put his work before her, but when she stepped outside into the real world after her escape from the affluent area around the capital, she understood.

Her father never told her how terrible things were in Caelum. It wasn't his fault. Seven years before, there was a devastating plague that killed a tenth of the population, including her mother. It left many others wounded or otherwise unable to care for themselves, and in the struggle that followed, a massive drought came and killed the crops.

While she grew up in moderate opulence, Caelum crumbled.

She traveled the countryside, thinking she'd find freedom, and she only found disease, poverty, and desperation that was thick on the people like there was no way out.

King Sawarr offered money, medicine, and open trade, in addition to a financial sponsorship that would have helped the people of her country.

Lucy had stayed briefly with the impoverished family of a fallen soldier who had given his all defending the country. For one, the nation required death, and so he died. For her, the nation required marriage, but she'd run away.

It was when she realized that through her sacrifice she could help millions that she truly started to feel like a princess.

Jude leaned against his desk, looking tired and old. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

Lucy hung her head a little. "King, no, Papa…while I was out there, I realized...I realized I can help a lot of people if I just go along with it. I'll marry King Sawarr."

The king crossed his arms and started laughing, but it was the kind of laugh a person emits only when they're amused by how ironic and terrible life actually is. "You spurned the king of Brago. He married Irene of Alvarez. That opportunity is gone. You have to realize, nations use these marriage for mutual strength, but Caelum has no strength left in her. With Sawarr, he was so enamored with you that he looked past that."

Lucy never imagined she'd regret running away, or doing what was best for her. "I apologize."

Jude wasn't really angry. He could understand why a seventeen-year-old girl who didn't even really know herself would run from marriage to an older man. As a father, it put a sour taste in his mouth that as she'd approached adulthood, he gradually prepared her for marriage. He could see in her eyes before she left that she was afraid, that she didn't want to go live in a strange land with a strange man.

"When I was out there, I saw so many people, Papa. Sick, poor, hungry...and one night I started crying for them and I couldn't stop."

His expression softened. "It's in your blood for you to love them, to cry for them, to put them before your own desires."

His daughter fisted her hands at her sides, feeling shame that she'd missed her opportunity to help the millions of people suffering far worse than an unwanted marriage. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Are you certain you're willing to make this kind of sacrifice?"

"I held a little boy while he cried because he didn't have anything to eat," she answered in determination.

Jude took a deep breath. "The king of Fiore wrote me a letter saying he desires for his son to marry. Prince Ivan is the last person in the world I want to give my daughter to, and as a father, I would say no. I don't believe he would treat you well."

"I would rather be a mistreated wife than to be happy and know my happiness cost other people so greatly."

"You know what's required of you?" he asked.

Lucy shook her head.

"What I mean is-do you know what's going to happen after you marry him?"

She blushed a little, but nodded. "Do wifely things. Have a son."

Jude was very literally sicked at the idea of Prince Ivan touching his daughter, but his people were in desperate need and she was desperate to help. "Ivan has a son, so having a baby isn't a requirement. If you give birth to a son, he can be heir to this throne. Their magic line is extremely powerful. You would probably produce incredible offspring."

Everyone in the world knew that Ivan was an absolute creep. Among royals, rumors flew constantly about how crazy he was. Lucy had met him a few times in her life, and the mere mention of his name left her feeling disgusted, but Fiore was the wealthiest country in the entire world. Rich in natural resources, the nation was strategically positioned on five of the seven major trade routes on the continent and served as the primary connection to the continent on the other side of the world.

Marrying into the royal family would put her in a position where she could do so much for the people of Caelum.

Over the next eight weeks, arrangements were made, letters were sent, and Lucy made no arguments, no demands. She wrote in reply to Prince Ivan, and his answer made her queasy.

Jude negotiated a six-month courtship, during which she would live in Fiore at the palace. At the end of that six month period, she would either marry or return home. Ivan was simultaneously courting another woman, which wasn't unheard of, but made everything extra disgusting to her.

It made Lucy sad in a way she couldn't describe that she only really understood her father when she was preparing to leave, probably forever. In those last two months, she found he'd become a confidant and that he really did love her. Her father was simply bound by duty as she was.

The journey to Fiore felt like it took a lifetime, and when she arrived in Crocus, she found the wealth to be astounding. Her senses were overwhelmed with the smells of many different kinds of food cooking at stands owned by street vendors, the sight of tall architectural wonders, and glittering trinkets in shops.

At the palace, she was greeted by her personal security detail, Captains Gray Fullbuster and Natsu Dragneel, who nearly missed their introduction because they were trying to punch one another out on the front steps of the palace.

Along with them was a woman in a maid outfit named Virgo. Lucy immediately recognized her as a celestial spirit as that was her royal family's magic, but she didn't know who her summoner was.

They took Lucy to the lavish private apartment she would stay in during the courtship, and the princess was simply amazed at how beautiful everything was. As a struggling country, even the royal family of Caelum felt the effects, so while Lucy had more than a few beautiful dresses, she was amazed to the point of nearly feeling lost at the walk in closet filled with the finest, most luxurious fashions. They were gifts for accepting the courtship, and once she settled in, Virgo put her through a rigorous beauty ritual with the help of several palace attendance.

Her hair was neatly trimmed, eyebrows plucked, skin scrubbed and moisturized until it looked and felt like flawless, fair silk, and nails were neatly manicured. Lucy picked a sleeveless, cream-colored lace tea dress and carefully applied makeup. She had no mind at all to fight over a man, but if she came all this way to a foreign country and Ivan married the other woman he was considering, all her effort would be for nothing. She wore her tiara, because it signified her home.

Lucy was coming downstairs to meet Ivan for tea the first time that she and Laxus laid eyes upon each other.

Third in line to the throne and rebellious as all hell, the youngest prince was known for being uncouth although very intelligent. His grandfather the king would have preferred a political marriage, but everyone knew he was going to do what he wanted without regard to anyone else.

He'd been content up to that moment with being a respectable military man and a disrespectful prince. But when he saw her, he'd never wanted anything so badly in his life and he didn't even know why.

Lucy's body was perfect; young, curvy, with skin that looked so soft and milky. Her hair was long and blonde and so shiny and gorgeous.

Laxus could have any woman of his choosing, and in that moment, he was sure it would be _her_.

Lucy was hypnotized by his stare, unable to move as long as he looked at her like that. As a princess whose virginity was highly prized, men around her age had been kept separate from her since she turned about thirteen or so. In a country that was struggling with poverty, plague, and drought, there weren't many like him out and about either.

Laxus was tall, muscular, and had a head of unruly hair. There was a scar over one of his eyes, and she found her heart beat a little faster as she slowly forced herself to continue her way down the steps to where he was standing at the bottom. He was wearing a military dress uniform, but she didn't notice his name at first.

The lightning prince was considering what he'd say to her, and then he saw the tiara atop her head.

"Are you Princess Lucy?" he asked as he held his hand out, and she took it as she made the last two steps.

"That's correct, sir."

Laxus kissed the top of her hand and cursed under his breath. He could have any woman _except_ this one.

"I'm Laxus. Maybe we should just cut to the chase, and I'll start calling you Mommy," he sarcastically said.

"Eh?!" she exclaimed as her manners slipped for a moment.

Laxus laughed. "You're here to court my father. That means you'll be my stepmother. I've always wanted a mother. I'll fill up your schedule with family activities. You can teach me how to ride a bike and about the birds and the bees, cook me pancakes in the mornings and make sure I'm a good boy."

Lucy's cheeks stained red at the insult, and it was an insult, however well-veiled and carefully worded. It was absurd, and she knew it. "H-How old are you?"

"Twenty-five. How old are you? Twelve? Thirteen?"

"S-Seventeen."

He shook his head. "My father is sixty years old. What the fuck are you going to do with a sixty year old man? Close your eyes while he flops around on you like a half-dead fish?"

Irreverent, vulgar, and bold, he made his objections known to her.

The blonde blushed more deeply as she considered this second insult.

 _SMACK!_

Her hand hit him with bruising force, and he felt a little jolt of magic in her touch. Unyielding and unashamed, she said, "I will do whatever it takes to help the people of my nation. If you'll excuse me, I have an engagement."

Laxus watched her go, amazed at how quickly he'd shifted from wanting her more than anything in the world to...well, he still wanted her. If anything the slap only convinced him she was interesting and fiery, and he wondered how fate could possibly bring her this close for her to become his stepmother.

The entire affair was distasteful to him, and he suspected his father was trying to remarry so he could eventually have another heir to replace him.

So he decided to crash the tea party and make life a lot less comfortable for everyone.

Meanwhile, Lucy tried to follow the instructions to get to the tea room. After getting lost and eventually found by Virgo, she finally located it and took a seat with King Makarov and Prince Ivan.

Lucy bowed gracefully. "My apologies for my tardiness. I got lost in your beautiful home."

The king chuckled. "Relax, Princess. Behind closed doors, we're a normal family. You don't have to be so formal."

Ivan watched her when she entered, and looked over her, hard and long, from the top of her head to her feet. "You're a lovely young woman. I'm honored for your company, my sweet little princess," he said.

She nodded in understanding and after customary greetings, took a seat beside Ivan.

They made typical niceties, and Lucy couldn't help but be stiff and uncomfortable. She didn't know what to say or do in that situation, and Ivan seemed to accept her nervousness. King Makarov almost seemed to pity her as she sat there with his son.

Ivan poured her a cup of tea, and added tea and sugar to it. "You look sweet, like you like a lot of sugar."

"I prefer to take my without anything extra, actually," she quickly answered.

"You like to take it hot and bitter, my sweet little princess?"

Lucy, shielded from dirty jokes all her life, missed it although Makarov scolded his son for behaving inappropriately.

The double doors flew open and Laxus entered, now missing his officer's jacket. The top few buttons of his white shirt were unbuttoned, and he had a bottle in hand. "Oy, Pops, I'm home from the front."

Ivan gestured toward his son. "This is Laxus. He's my son, and third in line to our crown."

Laxus poured cognac in all the teacups resting on the table, and then filled an empty cup three-fourths with alcohol before topping it off with some tea and six scoops of sugar. "Does it fill you with hope for the glorious future to see I've survived another campaign, Pops?"

Lucy picked up her teacup and sipped at it, unwilling to let the youngest Dreyar disrupt her afternoon further. "This cognac is a little bitter," she commented.

Laxus chuckled. "So you know your booze. When you get married to my father, you can just call that a 'coping skill.'"

"Laxus!" Makarov roared.

The princess evenly added, "I don't mind. I heard Ivan had a _child._ "

Laxus smirked. "Such patience. I bet you'll be a good mommy to my little brothers and sisters."

"Are you feeling well, Prince?" she asked, "It seems you're a bit distressed."

Ivan and Makarov watched the fiery little princess handle the family's problem child with ease.

"What do you recommend, Mommy?" he asked.

Lucy replied, "Perhaps some cookies and milk, and then a nice nap. Perhaps then you won't be so cranky."

Laxus glared at her and decided he might as well go for blood. "Did my father tell you the other woman he's actively courting is Princess Minerva, of your country's mortal enemy, Bosco? If he marries her as soon as my grandfather dies they'll invade Caelum and lay what's left to waste."

Her resolve shattered and she looked up. "Prince Ivan...is that….is that the person?"

Makarov grew his hand to a monstrous size and hit Laxus so hard he flew into the wall. "Go on, Laxus. You're being a pain in the ass. I'll speak to you later."

The patriarch of the family was about as thrilled at the idea of Bosco and Fiore allying and attacking Caelum as Lucy was, which is why he'd arranged for this somewhat uncommon secondary courtship. Makarov really didn't want Ivan to get married or have other children, but the sudden courtship between Minerva and Ivan forced Makarov to try and find an alternative.

Caelum needed help too.

Lucy was a feisty girl, but a good one, and Makarov could see the unwavering determination in her eyes as she went about the business of making herself comfortable with the arrangement at hand. She was smart, well-educated in history, geography, and economics. She had a shrewd sense of politics and was everything a future queen needed to be, from her ability to match Laxus' venom with clever, calm retorts to her understanding of trade deficit legislation, to her kind heart.

She handled both Ivan and Laxus with calculated grace.

After tea, Lucy retired to her apartment, where she had to pick out a different dress for dinner and read up on a magazine of local politics. She considered Minerva, and although they were from the ruling parties of states that stayed on poor terms, they themselves got along well enough that they used to say that someday their countries wouldn't be at odds anymore.

Realizing Bosco was trying to form an alliance with Fiore to crush her home country helped Lucy realize that dream of peace was only a pipe dream. Like Lucy, she was doing what was best for her country, and it made Lucy feel a little sad for her, because she knew Minerva had someone back home who cared about her. He wasn't a royal, but he treated her like a queen.

Lucy's father told her often as she was growing up that a princess had a more terrible burden than a prince, and she'd never understood this until that moment, where she was trying to reconcile who she was with the reality that she and Minerva were competing for the affections of a truly disgusting man for the sake of the citizens of their countries.

Dinner was quiet that night, because Ivan and Laxus were at a military exercise until after the meal. She and Makarov ate and spoke peacefully. Lucy liked him quite a lot even from their brief meetings in the past. She found him to be a good man and a beloved but eccentric monarch.

After dinner, she took a long bath and after dressing in a more casual dress and some ballet flats, she stepped out into the garden. It was late, the moon was full, and Lucy walked quietly about, reaching out to touch the lovely exotic flowers.

She was leaning down to sniff one when she heard a voice.

"That one smells like rotting flesh."

Her head jerked up and she took a step back. Even when she ran away from home, she avoided situations involving men and due to her royal blood, she'd never really been alone with a man before. Lucy wasn't sure why her heart started to beat fast for a man she viewed as being such an immature twit, but he did look good under the moonlight.

Lucy leaned down and sniffed it anyway, as if she didn't believe him, and crinkled her nose. "Ewww…"

"It attracts pollinators. Something about the rotten dead brings the bees around. Kind of like my pops' and younger women right now."

Laxus was sitting on a stone bench, looking up at the stars.

She turned. "I should go."

"Are you afraid I'm going to compromise your honor? We'll get caught alone in the garden and everyone will assume I broke you in for my dear old pops?"

Lucy slapped him again.

He held a hand over his cheek. "Princess, you've hit me twice, called me a child, and drank booze tea during the day. I'm starting to realize you're not one of those spineless little girl types at all."

"I'm sorry if my personality isn't to your liking. Fortunately, I'm not here to impress you."

The prince flashed his devilish grin at her. "It's to my liking. I can't stand weak women. I can only imagine being with a woman without a spine would be like having conjugal relations with a jellyfish - no bones, but stimulating enough I suppose."

"You say the most rough, inappropriate things I've ever heard in my life. Are you sure you're a prince?"

Laxus pointed to his military decorations. "I'm bad little soldier boy with a potty mouth. Also, disruptive, inappropriate, rude...I am a man of many adjectives, all of which are insulting."

"Well, it sounds like you need some time to reflect and think about your life. I'll be retiring for the evening. Goodnight, Prince."

"'Night Princess Mommy."

Laxus spent some time in the garden and then headed to his own room, where he found his grandfather pacing the floor.

"Laxus, keep a clear head and don't do anything stupid. You hear me?"

 _ **Please Review!**_


	2. The Prince and His Pig

Two weeks into the courtship, Lucy found Ivan was more or less what she expected. He was creepy as hell, old, perverted, and was clearly looking forward to having marital relations with a younger woman. He made little comments during teatime and dinner that made her skin crawl, and Lucy continually reminded herself of the fact that she wasn't doing any of this for the sake of her own happiness.

Her thoughts went often to Laxus, and she wasn't sure why. His amazingly good looks didn't really compensate for his terrible personality. Lucy was especially annoyed by him when she found out that he didn't treat Minerva poorly. For the most part, he acted like she didn't exist.

Luckily, because he had major obligations to the military, she didn't see him that often.

She was having breakfast in the garden one morning when a most alarming intruder interrupted her meal. She screamed because it startled her at first, and her guards Gray and Natsu ran to her side just as she picked up the offending creature.

It was a tiny little baby pink pig wearing a yellow bow.

Lucy had never thought of a pig as cute before, but it was positively adorable.

"Oh wow, what a cute little baby…who knew pigs could be cute?"

Gray and Natsu looked at one another, having one suspicion about how a baby pig got loose in the garden.

"Is he back?" Natsu whispered.

"Must be. Why else would there be a fucking pig in the garden?" Gray answered.

Laxus called Lucy's name as he wandered down the stone path.

Lucy rolled her eyes and looked down at the pig. "He's more of a pig than you are, no offense. Hey, you're cuter than he is too."

Gray and Natsu could feel the cringe coming when he stepped onto the patio outside her apartment and called her name.

"What do you want from me?"

At the sight of Laxus, the pig started to grunt happily and excitedly, flailing around in Lucy's arms in happiness.

Laxus said, "Nothing."

"Then why were you calling my name?"

Laxus reached out and took the pig from her and it affectionately nuzzled his jaw and cheek. "Lucy is also the name of my pet pig. Isn't that right, baby?"

The blonde screeched, "You named a pig after me?!"

"Of course not. That would be rude. This is merely an unfortunate coincidence. For the pig."

Laxus reached onto her plate and picked up a strip of bacon, which he fed to the pig who nibbled at it making happy little grunts.

"You can't feed a pig bacon!"

"Yet you eat it."

Lucy screamed and kicked him in the jaw, her beautiful dress flitting about as her foot flew into his head. "Get away from me, you idiot!"

Laxus hugged the pig and whispered in her ear, "My new mommy hurts me."

The lightning prince really didn't have a very clearly defined plan where Lucy was concerned. He just knew she was the most amazing creature that had ever walked the earth. She was gorgeous, made of sugar and spice and...lots and lots of spice. In his eyes, the fiery little blonde was the most perfect woman he'd ever met, and he wanted her so badly.

He wasn't entirely sure why he expressed this by pissing her off to the point of violence every time he saw her. His process was a little something like this:

Step One: Piss the girl off  
Step Two: ?  
Step Three: Marry the girl

All he had to do was figure out what 'Step Two' was.

The fact that Lucy was currently courting his father was nauseating to the point Laxus almost couldn't stand it. Even if his father chose not to marry her, it would have been extremely unconventional for him to court her afterward.

Laxus was so smitten he didn't know what to do.

In the garden, Lucy paced back and forth for a few minutes. "Who has a pig for a pet?"

Gray calmly answered, "The Prince has an entire menagerie. He's quite fond of animals. Mavis likes them."

"Mavis? Who is that?"

Gray flinched, as if he regretted dropping the name.

"Nobody," Natsu answered.

They'd been assigned guard duty by Laxus as punishment for destroying an entire city. Laxus generally didn't bother them, but this time, it happened to be a city on their side of the border. He'd been livid, as he at least tried to run an elite magic unit in the seemingly never-ending border skirmishes with Brago.

During her brief correspondence with King Sawarr, she'd heard him make reference to 'the thunder' of Fiore, which she now knew to be the disruptive, peculiar prince.

Like the others, Laxus was complicated. Lucy found the Dreyar house filled with mystery and misery, somewhat equally.

Makarov seemed to despair over what a terrible person his son was, but his eyes had sympathy for his grandson as much as frustration.

During tea time with Ivan, Lucy dropped the name of the mysterious 'Mavis.' "I heard a name earlier...someone named Mavis. Who is she?"

Ivan contemplated telling her the truth, but the truth was one carefully guarded by their family. Instead, he nonchalantly said, "Nobody."

Something about his tone said, 'don't ask.'

This only made her more curious, and while he bored her about a treatise he prepared on trade practices of Ishgar, she tried to put pieces of their family together. All she knew was that Ivan was crazy and he seemed to be the point around which the other pieces of the family were broken.

Laxus hated his father.

Completely. Unrepentantly. Obviously.

"Have you and Prince Laxus always been at odds?"

Ivan nodded. "Since he was a little boy. His mother died, and he was confused. He has always blamed me."

"How did she die, if you don't mind me asking?"

The older man sipped his tea for a good minute before he said, "In an accident."

Lucy stared into her tea, trying to ignore the inward clanging of warning bells inside of her mind. Nothing says 'this is probably a bad idea' like 'my last wife died suspiciously.'

Sometimes, she looked at him, and she tried. God, did she try. She couldn't make her heart twitch even a little. He was old, and his body was old. He was a little skinny and bony, dark skin sagging like it was melting off of him. His hands were old, and whenever she looked down at them, she felt the clash of her will and her duty as she imagined them touching her.

Yet, she could help the people of her country, so she steeled her will and forced herself to see good in him, but it was nearly impossible. Prince Ivan was a bit psychotic and he seemed paranoid. He didn't love his son. He didn't love his father. And he wouldn't love her.

But she wasn't there for love, so that was to be expected. Only an idiot would expect two people with an age gap of over forty years to experience anything like love. Lucy could respect him, and maybe get along, but there was never going to be an 'in love' for them.

Gray was their chaperone and her guard for this tea time, and he kept a quiet vigil, although Lucy had figured out fairly quickly that both Gray and Natsu were quite against their new friend melting into the Dreyar house via Ivan. Gray was one of Laxus' men, and he seemed to carry his general's hate toward the man sitting across from her.

Ivan looked up at her from his tea. "Is there anything that you want? Your accommodations are suitable?"

"The accommodations are quite generous. Keep in mind I come from a country that isn't so prosperous. I don't even live like this at home," she said.

They were silent for quite a while, and then he said, "You desire to have children?"

Lucy nearly joked on her tea and felt her cheeks sting at her cheeks while Gray's lip curled up in a somewhat disgusted snarl.

The idea of him getting her pregnant was enough to make her want to throw up, but her father told her that becoming a mother would probably make her fate more tolerable because she would have someone to love and be loved by. It was pragmatic; she might never love Ivan, but a mother loves her babies regardless of their father.

"I suppose," she curtly answered.

The doors to the tea room opened, and Makarov entered. "My apologies for the interruption. I was looking for my grandson and was certain he'd be here making an unfortunate spectacle of himself."

Ivan answered, "I saw him earlier with a bottle of whiskey and a pig. I decided it was better not to ask."

The king sighed and turned toward his grandson's apartment. Laxus was perfect as a man of war; his military record was something for history books. He was very bright and knowledgeable, fluent in several languages and well-educated as a prince. But his behavior was wretched.

The door was unlocked, and when the king entered his grandson's apartment and continued to his room, Laxus was passed out on an enormous, lush bed with a collection of empty bottles on his nightstand. Princess Lucy the pig was nuzzling his face making her happy little grunts, and Makarov just shook his head.

Makarov sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. He really didn't know what to do with his grandson most of the time. When he was little, his mother drowned in the bathtub down the hall, and on that night, a three-year-old Laxus had walked in on Ivan bent over the bathtub with his hands on her. According to Ivan, he was trying to save her, but Laxus had argued against his father vehemently from that night on that he was holding her under the water. Of course, sometimes kids don't see things the right way, but secretly, Makarov believed had always believed him even if there was no proof.

A child who doesn't trust his own father really can't trust anyone. But briefly, when he was a younger adult, he'd tried to trust a woman and she burned him so badly he hadn't so much as whispered a woman's name in years.

Makarov took note of his aberrant behavior to Lucy immediately. Instead of ignoring her, he found opportunities to clash with her and annoy her to death like a little boy who teases a girl because he doesn't know how to express himself.

He might have tricked everyone else, but Makarov knew.

And it made him sad, but he didn't acknowledge it.

"Laxus!"

Laxus opened his eyes and sat up. "Good morning, Gramps."

"Get your ass out of this bed and put that goddamn pig outside!"

He sat up on his elbows. "Her name is Princess Lucy and she's housetrained. Like a dog. Only a pig."

Makarov cringed at how graceless his grandson was. "Laxus, I feel like I shouldn't have to tell you how amazingly inappropriate, insulting, and crude that is. Does she know?"

"It might have come up this morning."

Laxus managed to sit up all the way and crossed his legs in the bed. "Gramps, where is Mavis? I was looking everywhere for her. I heard she was send to another residence."

Makarov nodded. "She's at the Orchard Cottage."

"Why?"

"People were asking questions. It's just for a little while."

For a second, he seemed upset, but he quickly recomposed himself. "Whatever. I'm going back to the front tomorrow."

Makarov said, "You need to stay here. Laxus, you're getting too old to act like you do. I need you to calm down and behave. I'm not getting any younger. You're going to be king someday. I need to see you can handle that responsibility."

Laxus got out of the bed and shrugged the whole world off his shoulders. "Am I? It would be pretty easy for me to knock myself out of the running, all things considered. I think it would be a relief to air out the skeletons in my closet."

Dealing with his grandson involved picking battles. This one battle was the one that Makarov refused to lose. "Laxus, your father is involved in some things he shouldn't be. I learned yesterday it's much worse than I thought. There's an investigation going on, but if my suspicions are correct, some big things might happen in the future. I'm over eighty years old, and if he loses his place...what happens to this country?"

Laxus picked up the pig. "I got a monarch right here. Selfish, greedy, and hungry."

"LAXUS!"

The lightning prince really wasn't sure what to think about the talk about his father 'losing his place.' This implied there were some wretched and illegal things going on, and Laxus didn't doubt it. Makarov tended to ignore just how terrible his son was because the only other male in their bloodline was him.

The fact that Makarov was willing to address those sins spoke to some great faith he had in Laxus, although Laxus wasn't sure why. He hadn't given his grandfather many reasons to believe in him.

Makarov knew his grandson was a good man. He just had...issues. And he earnestly believed that if Laxus would just calm down and settle down, he'd be okay. He needed Laxus to be okay. Laxus might have had a terrible disposition, but he was a good man. In fact, this goodness was the primary source of his angst.

Ivan was heartless, selfish, twisted, and didn't have the right qualities to lead a nation. He cared very little about the struggle of the people living on the border who were put through hell by skirmishes with King Sawarr's army. Laxus, on the other hand, had spent two years tearing the enemy to pieces every time they stepped foot on on Fiore's soil.

Makarov could see Laxus was thinking, which was encouraging. "I'm fairly certain you like that Princess Lucy so much you don't even know what to do so you're being a complete jackass."

"Don't be ridiculous."

Makarov laid two alternative futures before his grandson.

"Let me make this easy for you. It's time for you to make your choice. You have two options. Continue being a twit and I'll air out your skeletons myself. You committed a crime of abdication. You never become king, but you get to go on your way and stop keeping your secret. Ivan becomes king, the country suffers, and this time next year that cute blonde is good and pregnant with his child or maybe at the bottom of the bathtub or both.

"Your other option is that you grow up immediately. Ivan gets banished for treason, and I arrange for Caelum and Fiore to reconcile through Lucy courting you. Assuming she doesn't bash your skull in, you two marry, I get to die in peace, and the country and everyone involved is better off. She's someone you can tell about your little so-called crime. She'll help you. She's a good girl. I'm so fond of her."

Laxus knew his grandfather was playing him like a violin, but did a violin ever really mind being played by a true master? What made Makarov great as a king was that he was a man of solutions. He was observant, and he knew how to figure out what people wanted and how to spin agreements together so that everyone was happy. He didn't know when Makarov had noticed, but he felt stupid for thinking he could keep secrets from him. Makarov always knew.

Makarov left him to consider his fate, but Laxus knew he had to accept the later option. Contrary to his behavior, he did love his country, and he felt a sense of duty he communicated poorly most of the time. Like Lucy, he was young and had long been faced with making sacrifices.

He wondered if she'd be okay if she knew his secret.

Laxus went for a walk in the garden, and saw his father walking beside Lucy.

She looked so disgusted, and he knew his father didn't mind at all.

Laxus was certain that if they got married and someone ended up dead, it would be Ivan. His own mother had been a flimsy wisp of a woman, meek and quiet. Princess Lucy would eat him alive, so he didn't worry about her safety. He heard she was a positively ferocious wizard as well, and he was quite curious about that.

Actually, everything about her was interesting to him.

Damn his grandfather for dangling such a wonderful thing in front of him.

Laxus put the pig down, and it ran down the little path oinking until it found Lucy.

Lucy picked her up and smiled at the piglet. She was positively adorable, even if she was a pig, and even if a pig had named her. "I kinda like you."

Oink oink oink oink!

Ivan gave it a disapproving glare, but she didn't notice.

"My mama used to say a man who loves animals is a good man."

"I hate them," Ivan said.

Lucy put another negative mark against his name in her mind. "How about celestial spirits?"

"I just don't do 'creatures.' Animals, demons, magic things...I barely like people."

The princess was an extrovert who loved all of these things except demons, although unless Gray was joking, Natsu was a demon in which case, she also liked those. The idea that she might spend the rest of her life with a possibly-homicidal anti-social, animal-hating weirdo who couldn't manage a relationship with his son or anyone else was getting increasingly discouraging. In those moments when she glimpsed a future of despair, she reminded herself that she was doing this for the people of her country.

She could take one for the team, even if that one was Ivan Dreyar.

Ivan asked, "May I ask for the honor of holding your hand, Princess?"

"I-I guess."

His hands were big, cold, and they felt old, with thin papery skin and bony fingers that laced with hers. He smelled old, like ointment, and he was old enough he had a slightly hunched-over appearance.

Laxus came around the corner, having successfully used the pig yet again to have a run-in with the blonde. Animals seemed to adore her, drawn to her outgoing warmth and charm as much as people were. He couldn't think of a quality more befitting of a leader.

He looked at where their hands were joined, and then from his father to Lucy, to whom he said, "Swine in your left hand, and swine in your right hand. How regal."

Lucy jerked her hand back from Ivan and said, "And yet the biggest pig is right in front of me."

"Son, I'm sure you can find something better to do than bother the princess," Ivan answered in irritation.

When he stood by his father, Laxus only made Ivan seem older and less attractive. Laxus was a few inches taller, made from muscle, and when he took his beloved pet from her, she caught a whiff of Laxus: whiskey, fresh-smelling cologne, and masculine smell that wasn't quite 'sweat' but didn't smell like it came from a girl. It was a man smell and she liked it for some reason.

His hand brushed against hers accidentally, and it was big and lined in calluses.

They were opposites. Ivan was a gross, passive-aggressive kind of jerk. Laxus was blatantly aggressive and ambitious even in his insults. Makarov would slap his grandson upside the head in half a second, but Ivan seemed more inclined to tolerate his son's behavior as if he couldn't do anything about it. Lucy viewed this as being somewhat spineless.

Laxus held Princess Lucy the pig up. "You want to kiss her goodbye?"

"Son, please," Ivan pled.

Lucy said, "I read in a book once that pigs are social creatures and they're happier around other pigs, so I'm glad she has you."

Ivan, being an older man and a creep, was very observant and he saw very clearly the look in her eyes as she looked up at his son and the way she was breathing a little hard when he turned and walked away. It was unlike his son to acknowledge women in general, but with this one, he demanded her attention.

And she didn't seem to mind giving it at all.

Their tension was heat, and there was a lot of it between them.

Ivan wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it, since Laxus had really lived as if women didn't exist after his first failed relationship.

Laxus was such a brilliant military leader and he was gifted. He already cast a shadow over his father as a hero and a defender and despite literally being the most crude royal in any house, he was beloved by the people. A rough man of war, he had a certain charisma about his aggression that drew people to him.

And Ivan was just that creep between the great king and his rowdy but incredible grandson.

Having such a beautiful wife was going to put him at the top, but Ivan was confronted by the bleak reality that the gorgeous little blonde was young, fertile, and high on hormones. Her body wasn't exactly crying for his aging bones. A whole afternoon with her and not a single spark had flown from her yet when his young, strong, powerful son strolled by, her heart raced and she breathed a little faster.

He was disgusted and nearly devoured by jealousy over it.

"Don't speak to him again," he sharply commanded once Laxus was gone.

Lucy looked over at him in question. "With all due respect, I have never started a conversation with Prince Laxus intentionally."

Ivan stopped and stepped in front of her, giving her a threatening glare. "Do you find him more desirable than I am?"

"Desirable?" she repeated, seeming confused by the question.

Ivan turned. "Nevermind. Watch your step."

Lucy wanted to throw a fit the likes of which the world had never seen about his threat, but she had to remind herself again of why she was there. She really didn't have any purposeful feelings toward Laxus other than some understanding that he was attractive as hell. His behavior toward her was reprehensible every day of the week, so she didn't understand why Ivan seemed a little jealous.

On the way back to her room, she had to meet with the king about the courtship to let him know she was doing well. Lucy didn't mention anything that happened in the garden, because she was trying so hard to make everything work.

A courtier she passed dropped the name 'Mavis' as she passed, whispering it under her breath as if it was a bad word.

Natsu was on-duty with her, but her refused to surrender any information on the mysterious 'Mavis.'

Whoever she was, she was some great mystery. All she knew about Mavis is that nobody wanted to say a peep about her and Laxus might have brought a pig into his life for her sake. This was precious little to go on and Lucy felt inclined to believe she was possibly Laxus' secret girlfriend, or someone otherwise affiliated with the house in an inappropriate way-maybe somebody's mistress. Maybe she was a beloved servant who loved animals. Maybe Laxus' mother wasn't really dead, she was just in hiding? Her mind got increasingly more creative and she wondered if she was maybe an illegitimate child Ivan had.

Not far from where she was brainstorming various angles of this great mystery, Laxus was in his room, panting as he considered his tenuous position in life.

He wondered if it was normal to piss of the girl trying to marry his father.

...and then masturbate furiously, because he'd never wanted a woman so bad in his life.

Lucy was incredible and she was everything he never thought to look for in a woman.

There was a knock on the door to his apartment and when he picked up his father's scent, he cringed.

Ivan eyed his son coldly as he stood there shirtless at the door and then entered.

Laxus was somewhat neat at home and kept his living quarters clean with or without the help of staff. This was a habit that stemmed from years in the military, but Ivan found it a little effeminate. There was something in Laxus that was always averse to opulence. He wasn't fancy, and normal people seemed to appeal to his rugged determination and boorishness.

Ivan took a seat at the small dining table in the apartment. "I wanted to come by and talk with you. It's been awhile since we had a good conversation."

Laxus really didn't feel like they'd ever had a good conversation. "You want something?"

"I'm going to select Lucy as my future bride. Effective immediately, I don't want you to be alone with her. Ever. I'll write to her father tomorrow and ask if I can propose marriage after the courtship."

The dragon slayer's stomach did a somersault, and he found the idea completely intolerable.

Ivan said, "I know you're a little hot over her. It's been a while. Just remember what happened the last time you got involved with a woman. And that I can say about five words and destroy your life."

"Blackmail? How fatherly," Laxus answered as he stood and opened the door. "If that's all, let me just offer you a generous 'go fuck yourself' and you can be on your way. If you're going to come here and threaten me, I think you need to realize you're a spoiled house tit and I'm a man of war. I don't have a problem killing and if you fuck up my life, I'll have two parents that drowned mysteriously."

Ivan had no doubts that his son was being very serious. He very much regretted putting one of the family's 'crown jewels,' a dragon lacrima, in his son because he'd become an absolute monster.

Laxus knew his father was being serious too. The downside of getting away with his 'sin' was that he found himself at the mercy of those who knew. Keeping a secret that big for the course of years was getting to be a bit much, and he was tired of it. Sometimes, he wished it would all just come out so he could swallow the consequences and move on.

When the young prince was trying to settle down and relax after the brief but infuriating conversation with his dear father, Laxus picked up the smell of blood wafting in through a half open window and followed it to a courtyard within the garden where Lucy was sparring in pants and a t-shirt with a creature he assumed was one of her spirits. He had spiked orange hair and his fists glowed with a bright light magic that reminded Laxus of Makarov's magic.

Lucy had a tiny cut on her cheek, but she was undeterred.

She was absolutely ferocious, making contact with a concentrated grunt. Dressed like this, he could see she was muscular, and powerful. Lucy moved with grace and confidence, and with the kind of ease that came with countless hours of practice.

The blonde sensed him and spun. "You!"

"Feisty little thing, aren't you?"

Lucy was out of breath, but managed to say, "I don't think we should be here together."

Laxus shrugged. "You're too old to let anyone tell you what to do or think. You came here on your own, right? Don't start being a patsy now. Especially not with him. He'll destroy you if you let him have that much control."

He stepped onto the courtyard. "Let's see what you're packing, Princess."

Lucy lunged at him and he dodged a kick, a punch, but was hit with a forceful headbutt because really, what the hell kind of princess can throw a headbutt like a pro?

He considered how fascinating she was as he cupped his bleeding nose. He zapped the busted blood vessels with lightning to stop the bleeding and reached for a handkerchief.

"Since I won, will you answer a question?"

"Win? Look, Princess I could hit you once and you'd have nothing but bones left. What's your question?"

"Who is Mavis?"

Laxus seemed vacant for a second, surprised by the question. But his answer was, "I don't know. I stay at the front a lot, so I don't know some of the locals."

She knew he was lying.

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	3. Makarov's Moves - Wedding and an Arrest

Lucy wrote an itemized list in her diary of everything she found unbearably repulsive about Prince Ivan in her diary. And at the end of the fifth page, she knew it was going to take everything in her choke down the reality that she might spend her life with him.

He wanted to put this cold, bony, paper hands all over her, and she wanted him to drop dead.

There was no love.

One was consumed by lust and the other willing to tolerate it because it was necessary.

Her mind drifted toward Laxus occasionally, although she wasn't sure why. Everything he did was insulting and rude at a level not usually found in respectable adults, or adults in general for that matter.

She heard a clap of thunder and looked out to the garden, where it was starting to rain. Somehow, that sound made her assume Laxus was afoot somewhere. Her eyes traced over the garden, and he _was_ there. He was shirtless, and sparring with Gray, who was nearly totally naked.

It probably wasn't proper at all for them to be half-naked in the Palace Gardens taking swings at each other, but it was even more inappropriate for her to watch them, mouth slightly agape.

They were both ridiculously attractive men, but Laxus was just enormous compared to Gray, towering over him with perfect muscles that bulged in the most perfect places. As she watched and the two men became more thoroughly soaked, his pants clung to him literally _everywhere_.

She couldn't stop watching the way the rain dripped down his chest and back as he moved. The sight of it made her body do all kinds of things she wasn't used to since she'd been sheltered from anything that was even a little erotic from birth.

Lucy's heart pounded, and she felt strangely warm and energized. Her mind supplied some creative scenarios in which they found, and he pinned her against the big maple tree, and...how did _she_ get shirtless in this fantasy?

Meanwhile, Laxus knew she was watching him. That sliver of light from curtains just slightly parted hadn't gone unnoticed. If she wanted to admire him, it meant he'd have to do less work to woo her when the time came. Not that he really planned on putting much effort into it; the charm of Princess Lucy was that she could deal with him as-is.

When Gray decided he was so sore he couldn't take anymore, he walked down the path and Laxus craned his head and looked directly at her as she watched him through the window.

He smirked as if to say, 'Hope you enjoyed the show.'

"Eep!" Lucy jumped back and closed the curtain completely. She whispered quietly to herself, "Please tell me he didn't know the whole time!"

It was amazingly embarrassing, but despite this, she couldn't help but think about his body. And then she felt gross, because for all practical purposes, Laxus was going to be her future stepson.

The situation was so dysfunctional and crazy.

Lucy had breakfast with Ivan, but she didn't have much to say to him and this angered him. There was a part of the prince that expected her to entertain him in exchange for the benefit her 'poor, sad country' would reap from their future union.

Ivan asked, "Are you unhappy with this arrangement? Something has to be the cause of your ill mood."

"I'm fine, Prince," she answered in a tone that was carefully measured.

"There's nothing I loathe worse than a woman with a bad attitude who pretends everything is okay," he answered.

Lucy took a bite of her toast. "I apologize. I'm not feeling well today."

"Then say so," he shortly replied.

"I'm on my period. I'm sorry if I've failed to amuse you, Prince," she sarcastically blurted out.

Ivan paled a bit at the sudden discussion of her menstrual cycle. "My apologies, princess. I hope you feel better. We can cancel tea this afternoon."

"I'd like that," she quickly answered.

Lucy really wasn't on her cycle, but she just wanted to make him feel as uncomfortable as he did. Internally, she kicked herself because this wasn't supposed to be about what she wanted. Yet, no matter how much sacrifice she had in her heart, she couldn't undo her own humanity. Her dreams and desires were there no matter how hard she tried to deny them.

She wasn't sure if she believed in God or not, but if He existed, she'd asked him a thousand times to do something to lessen the burden.

The blonde was having a moment of serious introspection when the doors to the breakfast room flew open and guards marched in, spears in hand.

Natsu, who was on duty to protect her made eye contact with her and made an expression that said he knew what was going on and that she didn't need to worry. She remained still, even though her instinct was to reach for her celestial keys that were strapped to her thigh under her cute little 'I'm a princess' dress.

The guards arrested Ivan, who made heated protestations, demanding to see the arrest warrant.

"On whose authority?!"

Ivan snatched at the paper and found the seal of his father. "My father the king would never...this…"

He read the charges and said, "This is preposterous!"

The guards requested he come along quietly, and he did. He might have been able to make a mess of the guards, but there was a pink-haired dragon leaning against the wall he didn't dare cross. Natsu was one of his son's aces, and one faithful to his son and his father unto death. Loyalty, it seemed, skipped a generation.

Natsu remained calm, and Ivan was escorted out.

Lucy was still sitting there with her breakfast when the guards left and apologized for disturbing her.

She looked up at Natsu with tired, frustrated eyes. "Judging from that, I assume you know what's going on?"

Natsu nodded. "I'm a military dog. I can't go around telling the princess everything I hear, can I?"

"Of course you can. Because I'm not just a princess. We're friends."

The dragon slayer sighed. "You heard about that massacre and Alvarez? The one where the rebels got arms and they ended up killing a whole bunch of people?"

"Everyone knows about that," Lucy answered.

"Those weapons came from Fiore. Alvarez has been threatening war demanding to know how our military weapons ended up over there. Ivan did it," he said.

The blonde sipped her orange juice with a shaking hard. "Why would he do something stupid like that?"

"His first wife was the sister of the king of Alvarez. There's been bad blood between them and between Alvarez and Fiore over how she died-whether or not he drowned her. The king of Alvarez thinks Ivan murdered his sister, so that's pretty ugly. It would be nasty for Fiore and Alvarez to get into a serious war, but it's going to be that way anyway," Natsu said.

Lucy nodded in understanding.

She felt some mix of extreme relief and disappointment, but she didn't want to let her feelings run away with her until she knew how all of this impacted her. For the time being, she felt like she'd spent enough time worrying about Ivan and all the unnecessary anxiety he brought with his poor personality and worse morals.

Lucy finished her breakfast in peace, composed her thoughts carefully, and navigated down a familiar hallway to the king's office. In most royal families, it was considered a fairly high breech of protocol to demand the king's attention without being summoned, but Makarov was a kind a kind and approachable man. He cared about her, her feelings, and about the things that were going on in the family.

He agreed to see her, and when she went in, she found him sitting at his desk, looking like he hadn't slept in three days and perhaps shed some tears during that time.

When he gestured for her to sit, she did.

"Ivan crossed too many lines. This isn't a country where the monarchy completely controls the government. We have lawmakers, and laws that must be followed. More importantly, the things Ivan did resulted in the deaths of a lot of innocent people, and even if those deaths weren't within our borders, it's no less morally reprehensible. People lost their lives over an old grudge he had," he said.

Makarov closed an envelope and then marked it with his seal. "He is likely going to be banished to another country."

The princess stared blankly at the floor as this was said. She was both extremely happy this meant there would be no marriage as it would have been pointless, but devastated that all her effort had come to naught. When she looked up at King Makarov, she felt great sympathy for him because he was clearly completely heartbroken by everything that happened.

"There's something else I need to make you aware of. Caelum has been attacked in the north by Alvarez. King Zeref wants to take the country as far as the gold mines in the valley. That's...about three-fourths of your country, if I remember correctly," he said.

Lucy trembled at this news. Alvarez was rich and powerful, rivaled only by Fiore in greatness. Their military was unstoppable, cruel, and effective. Against a broken country like hers, they wouldn't have any problems moving swiftly. Alvarez itself was made up of twelve smaller states that were swallowed, monarchs killed and ruling structures destroyed.

She was disgusted, and angry, and scared.

Makarov said, "Caelum and Fiore have been close allies for centuries. I have this stupid treaty I signed wherein I vowed not to entangle Fiore against Alvarez unless I have a protection agreement with the country in question."

He held up the envelope. "This is such a treaty. I'm sending it with my grandson to your father in the morning. Laxus commands the most elite team of wizards in the world. They're not many in number, but they're monsters. He agreed to take them to Caelum and fight."

So yes, her country had been attacked, and her plan to bolster their defenses through a political marriage had failed miserably. Yet Makarov still extended an olive branch? Lucy felt like he might have done so regardless, but Makarov was a master at helping everyone win.

Lucy stammered, "Th-Thank you. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Laxus is the one that suggested this. He's the one who is willing to go to Caelum and fight. I know there's something he wants, but he didn't formally ask. I have an ask of my own. What he wants and what I want are more or less the same."

This made her a little uneasy as Laxus was one of the strangest individuals she'd met in her life. In her diary, she referred to him as 'a handsome and charmingly irresistible asshole.' She knew him to be a man of war, the distinguished prodigious commander of the most elite team of wizards in the world. They were an army unto themselves, a destructive force that discouraged Alvarez from initiating conflict with Fiore.

He was also weird, morally depraved, and a master of disruption and agitation. It bothered her to no end that one of the world's greatest military minds named his pet pig after her.

Yet, Lucy was indescribably grateful that he'd be willing to fight for her country. She didn't fully understand why, but whatever his reasons, she was thankful. "I don't feel like I could deny your family anything at this point."

"When I first learned Ivan was responsible for his crimes, I wrote to your father and suggested an alternative arrangement."

"King, may I ask what the alternative arrangement is?"

Makarov said, "Ivan will inevitably be banished. Laxus is the next king of Fiore, and you're honestly better suited to him. You're both young, you seem to have some strange but obvious attraction to one another, and you're probably the only woman on this whole planet that can deal with his ridiculous bullshit.

"The most important thing is that he really likes you. As a grandfather, I obviously want my grandson to be happy, especially when he takes an interest in someone who would be so excellent for him."

The princess wasn't sure what the appropriate emotional response to this might be. There was relief that her journey to Fiore might not have been for nothing, and then the social whiplash of being the future wife of a man to the idea of marrying his son. It was bizarre, but the life of a royal usually was. Her life was something to barter with, and she'd accepted that.

The idea that the prince liked her made her feel a little peculiar, and her mind supplied vivid memories of watching his body move, drenched in rain under thinly-veiled moonlight.

Lucy considered it all for quite a while, sitting quietly in a chair across from the king's expansive desk. If she could deal with Ivan, Laxus was a thousand times better by comparison. And, he was ridiculously attractive. "Prince Laxus...and me…"

"You'd make an excellent team."

"So, how would that work? I start courting him instead?"

Makarov smiled at her, "It's a bit more complicated than that right now. Caelum needs to borrow an army. Fiore needs a male heir. How do you feel about eloping?"

"Eloping, as in…"

"How about getting married today? Our course of our bloodline is about to have a link pulled from it with Ivan in his situation. I really need Laxus to produce an heir if he's going to keep spilling his blood on battlefields. He's leaving in the morning and might not come home for a while. If you elope with him here, you can go with him to Caelum and stay somewhere safe. He could visit until you conceive and then you could come home."

She sighed. "King Makarov, are you serious? Like, did you think this up all at once or have you been working on it for a while,"

The king said, "If Laxus dies in your country, then what? I'm fairly sure I could produce a son if I had to, but the last one didn't turn out well so I consider that an absolute last resort. And if I had to do that, you'd be out completely. Unless you really like older men."

The princess furrowed her brows. "My apologies, but ewww…!"

"Exactly."

Makarov said, "I need you to talk with him if you're amenable. If you're not, I'll find someone else. Don't get me wrong; Laxus is going to fight either way. But now it's our country that has a need and I honestly believe that the two of you could really love each other and this may be the only opportunity either of you have for that."

Love him?

Love was an almost laughable idea by that point. Lucy's entire mind was almost clouded with the haze 'you're not allowed to fall in love' so it seemed like an odd comment for Makarov to make.

He was a pretty handsome rascal though…

Lucy felt like her life had become a terrible romance novel, or maybe a great adventure story, or perhaps one of those horror stories that was a tad bit humorous. While she'd run away from home, she'd envied the freedom that ordinary people had to choose their own futures. Yet, they were subject to fate in a much bigger way than she was. She felt like it was wretched to not have a choice in who she loved, but they often didn't have a choice about being hungry or sick or just desperately poor.

Realistically, she knew her plight was comparatively small.

Marry Laxus, the man who named a pig after her?

Why not? It was better than marrying an actual pig, which had been the first arrangement.

She agreed to meet with Laxus about the possibility of a clandestine eloping, and spent the next hour nervously pacing the floor of her bedroom while the king went to find the prince.

Laxus was sitting under a tree in the garden reading a dossier about the movement of enemy troops in Caelum with Lucy the pig at his side when his grandfather approached him.

"I heard my father was arrested this morning," he said without looking up.

Makarov tensely asked, "Are you alright?"

Laxus' stormy blue eyes looked up over the top of the folder. "I'm simply overwhelmed by all the fucks I don't give. As long as the blonde doesn't run home crying, I'm fine."

"I spoke to her on your behalf."

Nothing filled the young man's bones with dread more than his grandfather talking to a girl for him. Laxus had a plan and it was well thought-out and detailed and one of the things about his plan is that he had no intention of dealing with Lucy until after he got back from fighting.

For Makarov to meddle meant he was moving the pieces on a chessboard for which Laxus already had a strategy. More importantly, his grandfather never failed to say embarrassing, awkward things about him in private. The idea of him talking to the princess supposedly on his behalf was very unnerving.

"...why?" he cautiously asked.

Makarov said, "You're a reckless idiot and you don't have an heir. Things have changed with your father in this situation. You are the next in line, and you are the end of the line. The latter has to change, especially with you going to brawl with Alvarez."

Laxus closed the folder and put it on his lap. "...and?"

"I want you to elope and produce a son immediately. My version of immediately is before you leave for Caelum," he said.

"I'm leaving for Caelum _tomorrow_. I'll be back in six months. You can just chill out and keep getting older until then. I'm sure the princess won't mind sitting pretty for a while."

Makarov watched his grandson stand, suddenly towering over him. "Laxus, you've driven everyone in this house crazy being a nuisance to that girl. Just marry her. Have your little wedding night, take her with you, just keep her away from the front line. She gets pregnant, you send her home."

Laxus stared down at him and said, "Gramps, are you trying to trick me into getting married so I can have sex with her?"

"Is it working?"

"Maybe. I dunno. It was working until you said the word 'pregnant.' Then I wanted to throw up. I'm sure you're about to grab whatever leverage I'm not aware you have and twist my arm anyhow. Trying to talk me into it is honestly just wasting your breath. Let's get on to the manipulation, and then finish with the part where you try to convince me this is a good idea."

XXX

At two in the afternoon, Lucy entered the parlor and found the younger prince waiting for her. His cheeks were distinctly red, and hers were too. She had expected Makarov to be there, but he was not. They sat on couches on opposite sides of a coffee table, where there was a tea tray.

"Shut the door, and stand outside," Laxus instructed Gray, her personal guard on duty.

Gray had specific instructions not to leave Lucy alone with any male, but Laxus was his commander. His loyalties were primarily to him, because he was the kind of leader that got dirty and bloody on the battlefield with them.

Laxus said, "So, my grandfather wants us to elope tonight."

"Yes," she said, unsure of what else to say.

The dragon slayer said, "He mostly just wants me to have a son in case I die in battle since. That's ridiculous as I have no intention of dying."

"I don't think anyone who goes to war does," she answered.

Laxus poured her some tea. "I told him more or less to fuck off when he first raised the idea, but Gramps has a way of working things out where everyone gets what they want. You want security for Caelum, my grandfather wants me to produce an heir, and I have something I want as well."

The princess accepted the teacup and stared into his eyes for a minute. "Is it true that you like me?"

"What's not to like?"

"You named a pig after me!"

"I like the pig, so you should consider it a compliment. You know she's cute," he teased.

She sighed. "You're terrible."

"I think you kind of like me too. You at least think I'm attractive. According to my dragonslayer hearing, your heart pounds every time I get within a few feet of you," he answered.

"I don't know why that happens, but it's probably not that!" she argued.

Laxus' brows raised. "You're one of those that's been really sheltered around men, aren't you?"

"You're such a jerk," she sputtered in embarrassment.

He smirked. "You're cute."

These two words caused her to blush furiously until her cheeks felt like they were on fire. It was definitely true that her body had a distinct reaction to his presence, to his eyes, to his words, but she didn't quite have a grasp on why he could just utter two words and make her feel like shocks were going through her body.

She looked up at him. "Do you really care about the people in my country?"

Laxus said, "I've been to your country twice. Once when I was a little kid, and it was still great. The second time was a couple of years ago after the plague. For Alvarez to attack people that are already in that situation is bullshit, and if the other nations let bullshit happen, it'll happen to us eventually too. Alvarez can't be allowed to grow any larger. So, the decision is part sympathy and it's also logistical. If Caelum crumbles, other nations will come after that."

They talked politics and war for the better part of ten minutes, and then the conversation got quiet again. Maybe he was a jerk, but he was smarter than Ivan and was easier to talk to. Seeing him nervous was fun for her, because he seemed a little embarrassed to be in the situation he was in.

"I have a question. I know you have some nasty, disgusting secret. I feel like I need to know," she said.

Laxus leaned back and crossed his arms. "I was trying to figure out how to get to that subject. It's the one thing we absolutely have to discuss, but I'd honestly rather never talk about it ever."

"Are you a murderer or something?" she joking asked.

"Sort of? But not really. Maybe. I mean…"

Lucy glared at him. "You act like you're not sure whether or not you're a murderer. That's actually a more disturbing answer than a plain old 'yes' would have been."

The dragon slayer said, "I'm kidding. I've killed people in battle, but not outside of that. My real secret is quite scandalous. Are you sure you're ready?"

"Just tell me."

"Mavis is my kid. She's eight now. I was seventeen when she was born," he admitted.

Having an illegitimate child was one of the biggest sins someone of royal blood could commit, but judging from the fact Mavis was eight and Laxus was twenty-five, she assumed he probably just made a mistake somewhere along the line when he was still young.

"Where's her mother?"

Laxus said, "Dead."

"Can I have a little background on that, because there seem to be a lot of dead women associated with your family," she answered.

Laxus found this to be a fair statement and explained, "She was from one of the border towns. We met during the conflict when I first went to the battlefront. I hadn't been around women before, so she kind of used me. I was sixteen and naive as hell. She wanted to be queen, and I didn't realize until I'd already fucked up. She got pregnant and blackmailed me. It went on until her town got destroyed when she was seven months pregnant. I found her dead from a bullet wound in her leg, but she'd given birth before she died. I brought Mavis home and she's been raised as servant by the family doctor who took care of her."

Lucy could hardly imagine a teenage boy stumbling upon the scene that must of been, or what it must have been like for him, to trust a woman that only manipulated him and messed up his life. Since Laxus hadn't had much attention from women, she assumed he fell into the trap easily.

She thought about the comment she'd overheard. "The pig was a gift for your daughter?"

"She likes animals. Gramps sent her away. Kid follows me around all day and it makes people talk. She doesn't know and she's still attached," he answered.

"Mavis doesn't know you're her dad?"

"She thinks she's some orphan. I've watched that kid cry about not having a father. And look…"

He tensed for a minute, and he almost didn't go any further, but this was a lifelong commitment and they were there to negotiate the terms. "I can't legally acknowledge Mavis as my daughter by blood. Ever. But it's not uncommon for nobles to adopt servants or children they're fond of, especially orphans. If we were to adopt her, she could at least…"

Laxus hated talking about his feelings.

A lot.

It really wasn't in his plans to settle down at all. In fact, prior to meeting Lucy, his life plan involved just being single in the military and being a bad prince until he was forty, then entering an arranged married with 'whatever woman' and having a son. Suddenly, Lucy happened and Makarov was making it work in fast-motion.

"You want to raise your daughter?"

He nodded and looked directly into her eyes and quietly said, "I'll give you anything you want if you can help make that happen. Anything. You name it, it's yours."

Lucy smiled at him a little. "Our lives are nothing but bargaining chips and tools. Let's not treat anyone else's like that. Family is really important. It might be weird for me because I don't know anything about being a parent."

"If Gramps has it his way you will soon."

"Do you really want to have a baby?"

Laxus said, "I want to have another baby at this point in my life like I want to trip and fall down the stairs into a bed of broken glass and rusty nails. Besides, you're seventeen, that's a ridiculous age to have a baby. I know this from experience."

"But, if we don't…"

He put up a finger. "The trick to dealing with Gramps is letting him think he's won. So we sign the paper, take some vows, and then have more freedom to do what we want. Gramps wants you to travel with me so we can make a baby, but really, you want to fight in the war anyway. Right? A girl doesn't become a powerful wizard because she dreams of drinking tea and wearing cute heels."

"You're suggesting we get married, but not really act like it?"

"Princess, every royal marriage is fake on some level. I've had my whole life planned out for me. Same for you. We can make our own plans, and just let them think we're a good little married couple."

It was really the best idea she'd heard in her life. Laxus didn't seem jealous or controlling, and all he wanted was to be able to take care of his daughter and get Makarov off his back about having an heir. And Lucy really _did_ prefer to fight but this option had only been presented to her by her scheming future husband.

Lucy found this sham of a marriage to be delightful on a number of levels.

Laxus was happier than he'd been in a long time as well, finally seeing some silver lining on the subject of his daughter. The princess was exceptional, but he had no intention of confining that to her abilities as a 'royal.' Lucy was a respectable and fierce fighter and as the leader of a group of all wizards, he saw her talents were unique and could bring something special to the battlefield.

He was more than happy to let the tiger out of her cage for a while.

And someday, she would probably have a cute little son or two, and be a fantastic queen. For now, they were content to beat Makarov at his own game.

Makarov was almost suspicious of their contentment when they emerged from the room. Neither of them seemed conflicted or heavy-hearted about the idea of getting married. It was suspect from the start, and the old king knew his grandson had the same scheming abilities that he did.

The king was unfazed, because all he wanted was for his grandson to be happy, for him to be properly reunited with Mavis, and for him to have a son. Whatever Laxus had planned probably had nothing to do with at least one of those, but Makarov knew his grandson and he knew Lucy. They were so used to their lives being arranged that they'd probably tried to make some after-market alteration of their arrangement.

Laxus timed his action perfectly, and as they stood in the hall, dug into his pocket for a ring. He sank to his knees, and Lucy gave him a bit of an embarrassed blush as he slipped the ring onto her finger in front of Makarov and then kissed the top of her hand.

It wasn't just any ring, either. It was one of the most famous rings in the whole world.

There was a picture of the ring on her hand in a diamonds exhibit Lucy saw while traveling with her father as a child. It was a shamefully huge, perfect, light blue heart-cut diamond on a thick, diamond-studded band. It was something to behold, and felt a little heavy on her hand. It was an object of envy, even among princess and queens and rulers from distant lands. It had no equal, and was a part of the Dreyar Royal House's private collection of gems.

It was token of her wonderfully fake marriage to the sly dragon who was happy to play along with her.

Keeping secrets was fun.

Makarov watched the two, as Laxus slid the ring onto her finger and she blushed and smiled.

Whatever they were doing, he decided to leave them to it. As long as they plotted their way to a pregnancy, he was fine.

XXX

Laxus and Lucy married at Kardia Cathedral shortly after dark.

She wore his mother's wedding dress, he wore his formal military uniform. A handful of people were there, most of whom were a little confused by the confluence of events. It was going to be an outrageous scandal, but Makarov didn't particularly care since the two were leaving the country anyway.

By the time the morning presses rolled, the public would know Ivan had been indicted for the rebel massacres in Alvarez and the woman he had been courting had eloped with his son. That part actually made more sense, since the two looked like people who should be together. The monarchy could say it was 'for political reasons' and necessary to save the country's reputation and their promise to Caelum and everyone would simply accept it.

The other monarchs would be furious because Makarov had long told all of them that Laxus was not ready to settle down and refused offers for courtship and marriage categorically. That was actually true, with the exception of Lucy. There had been no other considerations and Makarov was fine with that. If Laxus was happy, he was happy. He felt like Laxus would drive an ordinary woman absolutely out of her mind anyway.

They got back to the castle and after somewhat peaceful meal, Makarov saw them giving each other eyes at the table. What he mistook for arousal was actually just mischief and relief.

"You two look tired. Why don't you go ahead and retire, and have a nice wedding night?"

Laxus looked up and asked, "We have a good time planned. Play some cards, teach the pig to fetch. You know, the same as always."

"Laxus!"

Lucy giggled quietly as she sipped her champagne.

"Go make a baby boy so if someone shoots your empty, ugly head off your shoulders I can still die in peace!" the old man exclaimed.

Her new husband asked, "Is that where the...in the...and then...? I forget. Where do babies come from again?"

Lucy was amazingly embarrassed that Makarov and Laxus were actually openly discussing the young prince impregnating her, but champagne and giggling at their argument helped alleviate the burn in her cheeks. Honestly, she hadn't felt so relieved or free of stress in a lifetime.

No sixty-year-old man, no sinking sense of dread, no feeling that every moment of her life was a sacrifice...

She'd successfully married into the best royal house in the world, her country was about to have an elite force moving to protect it, and things would begin improving for Caelum.

It was a good feeling and she felt like she could just enjoy herself for a while. Laxus made 'duty' amazingly tolerable despite how intolerable he was.

Finally, Laxus said, "Wifey, let's go upstairs. We have some business to take care of."

They hadn't actually discussed what was going to happen that night, and they were honestly both wondering as they made their way up the stairs to Laxus' apartment, where Virgo had moved and unpacked all of Lucy's things during the ceremony. The sheets were changed, the apartment was immaculate, and once the door was closed, they both let out a deep breath.

Laxus threw off his jacket and started unbuttoning his shirt.

Legally, they were supposed to get down to it or their marriage wasn't valid.

Lucy seemed bothered and nervous, and he honestly didn't want to have sex either. It wasn't that he wasn't lusting after her hard enough to nail her to every hard surface including the ceiling, because he was. They just really didn't know each other that well and he'd only had sex one time himself. He'd heard it generally sucked for girls their first time, and she was already really sheltered.

The prince did have condoms, just in case, but probably none his grandfather hadn't already poked holes in.

The prince was a little dismayed when he toured his apartment and found so many 'woman things' about. It occurred to him that as a result of this marriage, she would live with him _forever_. He'd have sixteen different bottles of different stuff in his shower forever, pink throw pillows on his couch forever, tampons in his bathroom cabinet forever…

He opened a drawer to find his pajama pants and found a jungle of lace panties, and he was pleased with this. Laxus imagined her walking around the apartment in nothing but a red lace thong and felt his anatomy chime in with a 'yes please!' He'd never really been around a woman in a normal way so it was interesting, and just as he reached out to touch one of the garments, the princess saw him.

"Hey, get out of my underwear drawer, you creep!" she slammed the drawer on his fingers, which he jerked out and shook.

"Owww, I'm just trying to find my pajama pants, Princess."

Lucy opened the drawer below it and pointed to his pajama pants. "Prince Laxus, I will let you know when it's okay FOR YOU TO TOUCH MY PANTIES! Let me give you a hint: NEVER."

Laxus saw his boxers and briefs folded neatly next to his pajama pants. "Get out of my underwear drawer," he mockingly whined.

There was a wrapped gift on the bed with Lucy's name on it, and she recovered from her temporary dismay that he'd seen her underwear when she noticed it. She took the lid off, and found light tissue paper wrapped around what she assumed to be some kind of lingerie.

"It's from your grandfather. I don't know what it is," she said, holding it up with one finger. "There are like strings and straps and lace. I don't even know how to put this on."

Her husband looked at it and was equally puzzled. "I wouldn't know how to take it off other than tearing it up anyway."

When he took his pajama pants out of the drawer, he looked up in the mirror and saw she was blushing as if her own mind had supplied some imagery for that as well.

Laxus drank whiskey while she showered and put on a pink silk nightgown. It was princess-y, he supposed, ornate and fancy. It wasn't really sexy as it touched her knees, but the straps left her arms and shoulders mostly bare.

He showered, and afterward found she was under the covers with the blankets pulled up to her nose.

When Laxus opened the door to the garden, the pig ran in and jumped on the bed, grunting loudly at Lucy's presence.

Laxus picked her up and put her down. "You have to sleep down there from now on."

Lucy pulled the covers up to her eyes when she saw he wasn't wearing a shirt, but didn't say anything. Technically, they were supposed to be naked and mastering the art of penetration, but she could barely keep from losing it over the idea of him sleeping in the same bed.

He turned out the lights and she felt a heavy weight settling into the bed next to her.

Laxus body was so big his arm touched hers and she scooted to the edge of the bed. She rolled on her side, and then back to her back, and then back to her side when he rolled onto his and their backs pressed against each other.

His body made it almost uncomfortably hot and although she'd practically taken all the covers to insulate herself from him, she was now sweating and hot so she threw them back and changed position again, pausing to fluff her pillow.

After a while, she started to get annoyed with him, because he smelled good and he was making her warm, both of which were distracting.

Laxus had never slept in the same bed as a woman either and found her constant tossing and turning to be quite disturbing and irksome. By the time they'd been in bed for two hours, the princess had been rolling around and now all the covers were on the floor.

"Would you stop moving?" he finally growled.

Lucy answered, "It's your fault for being huge and hot. Now I'm cold without the covers."

"Princess…"

The dragon slayer rolled so his chest was to her back, and he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him.

She squirmed. "Hey, I can't move!"

"You're not supposed to. This is a bed. Let me tell you how it works. You lay down. You stay still. You go to sleep."

By the time morning rolled around, they were very tired and extremely annoyed with one another. Laxus was agitated she rolled around so much and Lucy was livid that he'd let the pig get on the bed and sleep between them.

"Why did I wake up with a pig?" she hissed as she made her way into the apartment's kitchen where Laxus was sitting at the table, hair a mess and his appearance quite disheveled.

Laxus rolled his eyes. "She knows how to sleep in a bed. I don't know what the fuck you were doing. Anyway, we need to pack so we can leave. Gramps wants to have brunch."

"I'm already tired of you."

"We have at least fifty years left together so you better learn how to deal, Princess."

They got ready and Lucy felt like they were getting off on the wrong foot. She was annoyed as hell with him, but they were married. There were aspects of their relationship that were arranged, but she still had to figure out how to deal with him.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she fixed her hair.

"It's okay. It's my fault. I'm a light sleeper when I'm not shitfaced drunk," he answered, buttoning up his shirt.

Lucy looked up and asked, "Can we start today over?"

"Huh?"

Something her mother taught her about arranged marriages was that it was more or less the duty of the wife to set the tone. However she acted toward him would determine how he treated her, and they'd had a rough first night.

The prince watched as his young bride took a careful step toward him, and then another, and then wrapped her arms around him, giving him a little squeeze. "Good morning, Prince."

He was surprised by this, but responded in kind with a bashful smirk. "Good morning, Princess. We're alright?"

She nodded.

The tension lifted somewhat, and they both relaxed and took a deep breath.

They went downstairs to eat with Makarov, who said, "You two look like you didn't sleep at all. That's my boy!"

"Fuck off, Gramps," Laxus answered.

Lucy blushed too, because Makarov clearly thought they'd had a fantastic romp in bed. And while it had been somewhat of a romp, it hadn't been anything like he obviously assumed.

Makarov had plans for their unborn child, and Laxus just let the old man ramble on without informing him said offspring was going to remain unborn for quite some time. Laxus nonchalantly chewed on his bacon while his grandfather gushed at the idea of a new member being added to the family. The dragon slayer's expression was bored, flat and slightly annoyed.

The old man noticed at some point Laxus didn't touch her even one time during the meal, which was a dead giveaway. The old king was a little pissed but also slightly amused at the fact the couple thought they were getting one over on him. No chance in hell two young people with good chemistry could live together and not have sex. They were both impulsive, temperamental people, so he knew it wouldn't be long.

Laxus sipped at his coffee. "You can handle the adoption paperwork while we're gone?"

Makarov nodded. "She agreed to adopt Mavis?"

"Without hesitation. She's a good girl, Gramps."

"She's not a girl. She's your wife. You two will grow into it, I promise," he said.

 _ **Please Review!**_

Special thanks to guest, kaylucylover, cosmo333, flamey owl, lakeya2700, aviend, ladyallyssa, H.M. Akhlys, guest, w1n6s-0f-f1r3, kurahieiritr JIO, sasklarosee, edelweisswhitetiger, adabs18, fletchling, lunastarlady, thornado, the fangirlingfanboy, clitastrophe, and tomoe dragneel for reviewing!


	4. The Prince and His Protuberance

The wind whipped at her hair, the smell of fresh, wild air penetrating her lungs and energizing her as they journeyed toward Caelum, her home country.

Lucy loved the wild, to adventure in the great outdoors and see the beauties of nature. She'd rather watch a cute baby snail slither down a tree branch than a fashion show, but she'd never been able to help her so-called 'peers' understand this.

It was something important that she shared with her husband who was, among his soldiers, more or less an ordinary guy. Neither one of them really wanted to spend a stuffy life in castle walls; there was something wild about Laxus almost didn't even seem human. Then again, he really wasn't.

Traveling with wizards was fun, and she was honestly having the time of her life. She really ignored the fact she was married most of the day and enjoyed the experience of making new friends.

When they settled down to bed their second night as a married couple, they were in a tent. There was a mat and blankets on the floor of the tent, and a little lantern burning in one corner where Laxus sat cross-legged with a map.

Lucy entered the tent and fastened the flap of the door, then sat on the mat next to him.

As a girl whose virginity was prized above all, being around men was rare and being alone with them practically didn't happen at all. It made her a little nervous, and even when she'd run away from home she maintained a certain distance men. Now, she was a wife, and it was normal and acceptable to be alone with her husband.

Laxus was very relaxed and calm in her presence, which helped her to stay calm too.

He seemed to be straining to see, so she reached over and turned the lamp up, and then went to his bag and unzipped one of the pockets for the reading glasses she'd seen him pack.

"Laxus…"

When he looked up, he took the glasses from her and put them on. "I think you're going to be really good at this."

"At what?"

"Being a wife, obviously."

The blonde sat down. "I dunno. I have a mouth on me, you know."

"I prefer it that way."

It was usually his nature to antagonize and tease, but they were both being so cautious and careful with their relationship because neither wanted it to go poorly. They'd learned from their first night that it was easy to breed strife over life's irritations.

Laxus folded the map and Lucy took it and tucked it into his bag neatly. "We'll travel through the pass tomorrow and spent tomorrow night at the Orchard."

"What's that?"

" _An orchard_. One my family owns. Well, our family, I suppose?"

Lucy said, "You don't seem to be the type to excited about fruit."

The prince answered, "Mavis is there."

The subject of Mavis made Lucy a little uneasy as she had no idea how to be a stepmother with a small child, but that was going to be necessary. She didn't yet have what anyone would call maternal instincts, but no marriage was going to be perfect and she wasn't upset about the situation. It was what it was, and she preferred they find a way to thrive as a family than Laxus and Mavis continue in their broken way.

Laxus could tell she was nervous about the subject of his daughter and said, "I think you two will get along well. You're both obnoxious pretty girls who talk too much and love books. She's a crybaby. You look like you're a crybaby."

"You really know how to flatter a girl," she sarcastically answered.

He smirked a little and she said, "Can you turn around so I can change into my pajamas?"

"What if I want to watch?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "That wouldn't be romantic, it would be creepy and weird, but whatever. I don't have anything to be ashamed of."

"Oh? I'd be willing to bet you can't undress in front of me without turning red as a tomato," he teased.

"You wish I would!"

"You're right. I _do_. I'm a man, and you're my beautiful wife so of course that would please me," he replied.

Lucy would have kicked anyone else squarely in the face, but the reality was that they were married. He'd given her a free pass on their first night, but a part of her knew they needed to seal the deal. Perhaps not in a tent on a night when she hadn't had an opportunity to shower, but soon.

With a sigh, he got under the blanket and rolled over to face the other side where he couldn't see her. "Relax, Princess."

He heard the rustle of fabric and a rush of her scent as her clothes came off. Dragonslayers had a second nature of sorts, and his second nature was pleased with the way she smelled. Being close to her, being alone, and having the knowledge she was _his_ caused his inner dragon to stir in him restlessly.

Lucy was likewise considering her position. She was married, and not really acting like a wife. In her mind, she'd accepted during her courtship with Ivan that someone she didn't really like very much might touch her, but she was attracted to Laxus in a way she didn't really understand.

She didn't really look sexy in a sports bra and some somewhat plain but very good-for-traveling boyshorts. They were blue and they matched at least.

"Okay."

He assumed this meant she'd finished dressing, but when he rolled over and saw her sitting there in her underwear, his expression went from surprise to a slightly heated sense of excitement as a grin spread across his lips.

Lucy might have been a little nervous about having sex, but she didn't have any fear about her body.

At least, that was until his eyes moved down her form like they did, intense and serious.

Her cheeks stained red and she folded her hands in her lap as she sat on her knees. "This is what you wanted?"

With a slow nod, he looked her over again. "You're so goddamned pretty, Lucy."

Lucy nearly jumped at the way he said her name, as he usually referred to her as 'Princess.'

If she was honest with herself, she knew she wanted to know the feelings of his big rough hands on her, but she was apprehensive.

Laxus pulled the covers back. "Come to bed."

"A-And do what?" she stammered.

His brows rose. "Sleep, unless you have other plans."

"Let me just get dressed…"

"You don't have to."

"I'll be cold."

"I'm _still_ big and hot, if you remember."

This was an effective argument, and no matter how much she wanted to resist (which wasn't very much), watching a shirtless, well-muscled blue-eyed prince welcome her to a good snuggle, she couldn't.

Lucy got under the covers and for a minute or two, they rolled and moved and struggled to settle in.

It was awkward, because neither of them really knew how to snuggle properly, and they were both nervous about being in bed with the other.

The prince believed if they just hammered out their sexual frustration in the good old-fashioned way, they'd settle right down to sleep afterward.

"Was it just the one time for you? With Mavis' mother, I mean," she asked as she lay with her back to him.

"Having sex?"

"Yes."

He sat up on his elbows and looked down at her. "Just the one time. I was pretty terrible at it."

Lucy rolled onto her back. "Terrible? How so?"

This was the kind of thing a man would normally never admit, although most had a similar first experience. He felt like it might make her more comfortable, and besides, he just imagined when they finally got down to it, it was going to be awkward and probably not fantastic.

"It was over in about two minutes. Jenny ended up not having any fun with it, but then she got pregnant and I was the one that didn't have any fun, so I guess we were even."

The blonde laughed at him, because it was honestly funny to her that he'd admit that not only was he inexperienced, but he was bad the one time he did try. "Really?"

"Really."

"Never again?"

"Learned my lesson the first time."

Laxus had honestly spent the last few years thinking sex was borderline evil, and the source of most of his worries in life concerning Mavis. It took some re-envisioning the subject to imagine that it was not only legal and acceptable, but an expectation in his new life as a husband.

Their conversation grew quiet, and they just stared at each other for a while.

He watched her lift one hand to his cheek, and gently, gently touch his face. Her fingertips skated lightly across his high cheekbones to his hair and then behind his head to gently pull him downward. He responded in kind, leaning down until his lips were so close to hers.

The prince could hear her heart absolutely pounding in her chest as she felt his breath against her.

As far as he was concerned, she'd practically invited him, so he lightly brushed his lips against hers so softly they barely made contact. But he felt hers move a bit, so he kissed her properly.

Lucy didn't really know what had come over her, but she felt like she was in a haze of warmth that left her body feeling hot in all the strangest place, tension knotting her insides and deeper, the feeling of butterflies in her belly.

Their lips moved together softly at first, but once her body started to respond to his kiss, she felt his natural aggression kick in. He was a naturally dominant creature, and as he leaned over, he became a little more ambitious and she felt his hand on her bare skin just above her hip.

Lucy was naturally very ticklish and as much as this arousing moment was wonderful, the unexpected touch caused her to squeal and giggle, contorting her body.

Her husband chuckled and rolled onto his back. "That was pretty cute. You better go to sleep before I start getting ideas."

"I can't help it!"

They made a serious attempt to go to sleep then, and Lucy lowered the light from the lamp until the flame was almost gone and tried to lay her head on the pillow onto to find a rather hard bicep under her head. He nestled in behind her, and she felt the bare skin of her back on his chest as he curled a bit around her and draped his other arm around her.

Lucy couldn't decide whether or not she was comfortable, and wiggled first, then rolled, and then they were back in the same cycle as their first night, struggling to get comfortable. He wanted to touch her and be close to her, and she honestly wished she was sleeping alone. Somehow, the hands she'd wanted all over her body five minutes before were completely annoying when she was trying to sleep.

Just when she was almost asleep, his fingertips tickled at her skin and she twisted her body and broke out into very unwanted giggles. "S-Stop!"

"I can't help it," he teased.

Laxus was far too riled up to sleep at that point, and in his mind, as long as she had enough energy in her, she was going to wallow around on their little mat like an intoxicated octopus and he decided he just wasn't going to deal with that again. He tickled her, mercilessly, relentlessly, until she couldn't breathe or move anymore, and when he was satisfied that she was sufficiently tired, he let her fall back, panting and pissed off.

She complained and called him all kinds of ugly things that only made him laugh, but then she went immediately to sleep and he was free to snuggle up on her and fall into a deep slumber as well.

In the morning, Lucy opened her eyes when the camp started to awaken and found she had a very sleepy dragon tangled up with her. It was cute until she remember she was pissed off at him for tickling her, although she'd had a great night of sleep afterward.

He had one arm under her head and his other was wrapped around her as he emitted a noise that was half-growl, half-purr. It was actually a very calming sound, which is probably why it hadn't caused her to wake up, but when she tried to wiggle free, the purring stopped and he pulled her flush against him.

"Let me go already!"

"Say please…" he mumbled, half-asleep but very amused by his captive.

Lucy said, "Let me go!"

She struggleed and tried to forcibly remove his limbs, but the prince was one huge hunk of muscle and he was simply stronger than she was.

As she wrestled her way free and he kept grabbing onto her, she realized he was a very playful man. Although when she sorted through her memories, most of their interaction had been playfully rough and she'd simply mislabelled him as being an insufferable brute.

Lucy abruptly stopped he struggle and said, "You know what I just realized?"

"That you'll never overpower me?"

"...that you're not really an asshole. You're just awkward and rough."

He blinked a few times and asked, "Did you really marry me and you thought I was that bad? You must really love the people of your country."

"You too, you made a big sacrifice as well."

Lucy moved and felt something strange more or less poking her in the buttcheek. "What are poking me with, you big weirdo?"

He let her go and sat up. "You're sleeping in a bed with a man. This is a thing that happens. Especially when you rub on me all night."

The princess sat up and looked over. "That is...an interesting protuberance."

"I don't know what that word means, but please don't ever use it again to talk about my dick. I don't have a disease or whatever."

Lucy was blushing so hard she felt like her body might catch on fire. This was her first contact with a male erection, and she couldn't stop staring at it. She could see the way it was shaped and its general size, and she finally managed to look away and look at her body and tried to do the math.

The prince watched her in amusement because she was practically thinking about loud. "It'll fit."

She suddenly squeaked and stood up. "We don't have a lot of time to waste. Let's get ready."

Traveling with a group of wizards was fun, lively, and at times, physically challenging. Within Laxus' group, there were a number of 'strike teams,' which were groups of two to five that were trained for specific purposes. For instances requiring insane damage and destruction, there was Team Natsu, for precision operations, the elite Raijinshuu, his hand-picked group that worked closest with him.

There was a burly man named Elfman, and his sister traveled with them and took care of cooking and general first aid, although they also had an enchanter, Wendy, a little girl who definitely wasn't old enough to join the military but was clearly wasn't just a little girl either.

Laxus claimed she was a dragonslayer like he and Natsu, but Lucy had a hard time believing this as Wendy was polite and well-mannered and didn't walk around sniffing people/things.

She befriended Levy, the so-called 'brain' of the group, and spent most of the day talking and walking with her. It was a relief to her that Laxus didn't bother her about not spending the time with him, but then again, he seemed to be deep in thought as well. She believed it was partly because he hadn't seen his daughter in a long time, and maybe because he was anxious about the upcoming changes to all of their lives.

The orchard had a tall stone wall around it, but Lucy saw the neat rows of trees from afar and once they entered the gate of the expansive property, the princess found it was unimaginably beautiful. Green grass extended on for what seemed forever, and different kinds of trees were in bloom or bearing different kinds of colorful fruit.

They'd almost made it to the house when Laxus leaned over and whispered, "Ten o'clock."

Lucy glanced and saw a pair of big green eyes spying on them from behind a big tree. "Is that her?"

"That's her."

They were greeted by Jose Porla, the master of the house who was responsible for keeping the house and servants in order. He'd prepared a meal for the soldiers, and something a little more refined for the prince and his new bride after receiving a messenger bird that morning.

Lucy didn't like him; he seemed like a sniveling sycophant who probably treated the servants poorly in the absence of the royal family. Her distaste for him only grew when he roughly ordered the other servants to carry their bags to the master suite.

Once the soldiers were inside, and partially setting up camp outside, Laxus looked down and asked, "Are you ready to meet her?"

Lucy nodded. She really would have preferred to shower and relax before meeting her new stepdaughter, but he was obviously eager to interact with her. It had been a while since he'd seen her, so it was understandable given their situation.

Lucy wasn't sure how to feel and she was a little scared. It was a more 'grown-up' situation than she felt like she was prepared for.

Laxus sent for her before dinner and they sat together on a sofa in a small parlor and waited for the little girl. He'd brought a wrapped gift along, and judging for how terribly it was wrapped, she assumed he'd somehow done it himself. She could only imagine him wandering the halls of the palace trying to find wrapping paper and tape and then overdoing everything and tearing the paper with his dragonslayer strength.

When Mavis entered, she was with Jose Porla and wearing a maid uniform like what Porla would call a 'good little servant girl.' She was tense and stiff, as if afraid to misspeak in front of Master Jose. Her extremely long light blonde hair was pulled up in pigtails, and she had big, curious green eyes.

She looked nothing like her father, except for one funny little bang that stood up in the front and a similar chin and mouth. Lucy decided this was probably fortunate because it would have been a lot harder for them to keep her identity a secret if she resembled Laxus as much as Laxus resembled Makarov.

Laxus looked at the uniform and at Porla and gave him an expression that seemed to communicate that the prince wanted him to die slowly and in an unquestionably horrible manner. "Beat it, Porla. I didn't ask for you."

Jose paled and took two steps back out of the room, and then closed the door.

Mavis remained a bit stiff, until he said, "Relax, this is Princess Lucy. She's not someone you have to worry about."

The little girl let out a deep breath. "It's been a long time, Prince."

"I missed you around the castle. You've had a good time here?"

Mavis nodded. "Of course."

Laxus asked, "Have you heard the news? I got married."

Her big green eyes widened and she took a step forward. "Really? Someone really married _you_?" she asked in utter shock, as if it was the most unbelievable thing in the world.

Laxus shrugged. "Sheesh. Why wouldn't a woman marry me?"

Mavis said, "Prince, you've got the worst manners, you're not very nice, and you're much too tall!"

Lucy couldn't help but grin at the banter that followed, in which the girl gave Laxus an itemized list of reasons a woman might not want to marry him. Most of her reasons were valid, and Lucy knew Makarov sent Mavis away because they very obviously too close to be just a prince and a little servant girl. A parent and child were made to love one another, and laws, customs, and secrets didn't change that at all.

Once it dawned on Mavis that Lucy was the wife, she sat next to Lucy and said, "You must be a really nice person."

"Because I married him?" Lucy asked.

"He's so rude I was afraid he would never get a girl to like him," Mavis replied.

They had a giggle at the prince's expense and he didn't mind at all.

"I read the princess from Caelum uses celestial magic. Can I see?" Mavis asked with starry eyes.

Laxus was correct about their similarities and Lucy knew that right away. Mavis chattered for a while about books, about magic, about life, and she knew it wouldn't be hard for them to find common ground. She was more than happy to show off her spirits and introduced her to Cancer, as she was sure if she broke out Taurus and he started talking about her hot body (and probably Mavis' for that matter) Laxus would have a fit and blow half the estate up.

Laxus was so indescribably happy they got off well from the first second, although he found their conversation turned to him quickly and they giggled about things he did that were annoying to 'females of any species,' as Mavis put it.

"Girls."

Their chatter stopped when he said this, and then added, "Mavis, there's something we want to tell you. It's important."

Mavis became quiet and swallowed hard, as if she was expecting bad news. She considered herself a most unfortunate character, and her life so far had been difficult and mostly confusing. The king and the prince took enough of an interest in her so the other treated her poorly, but she never knew why Prince Laxus and King Makarov showed her affection. Mavis had always loved them, because in some ways, they almost felt like family to her.

And then, she wondered if that was just another illusion she'd tricked herself into believing. With her magic and her imagination, the line between fantasy and reality was dangerously blurred at times.

"I told Lucy about you, and we decided we want you join our family," he said.

Mavis eagerly brightened at what she thought was an invitation to be a personal house servant. "That would be amazing! I can't wait for you to have babies! I'll change diapers and stay up at night. I'd be a good nanny! I bet you'd be a good father too, even though you're...you."

"Hold on, will you? You're missing what I'm telling you, little girl," Laxus said.

The girl grew quiet.

The dragonslayer said, "We're going to adopt you and look after you from now on."

Mavis seemed confused, and then distressed, and then scared. "Is this real? S-Sometimes I don't know the difference and this doesn't feel like something that would happen. Things like this only happen in books, and my life isn't fiction...except the parts I make up, and then I don't know which parts are real and which aren't and…"

She covered her face and started to panic. "Is this one of those times where everything isn't real and I'm don't even know?"

Laxus stood and went to where she was sitting next to Lucy. " _Mavis_ , relax."

And then Mavis covered her face and started bawling hard and loud.

Lucy put her arm around her cautiously. "I am glad to meet you, Mavis. I'm looking forward to getting to know you."

When she started to calm down, Laxus offered her a handkerchief from the inside pocket of his military jacket. "Really, it's not very becoming for a princess to cry until she has a snotty nose."

"A princess…"

Laxus handed her the box. "This is from Gramps-you can call him that now. You want to go get ready for dinner? You can take Lucy with you. She hasn't had a bath in two days."

"Thanks," Lucy hissed.

Mavis looked up as she reached for the box and said, "That's no way to treat a lady! You should be grateful would marry someone like you. If she gets mad and leaves, you'll be alone forever!"

Lucy knew then that Laxus preferred his women feisty and that she and Mavis were going to get along just fine.

Mavis took the gift and unwrapped it to find a pretty pink and white dress folded neatly with a tiara on top. Lucy wanted to fuss at how carelessly he'd transported such a priceless thing (he'd practically squashed the box on the way there), but Mavis was in such a state of euphoria it was hard not to just watch her joyful wonder.

When the two left to go bathe and change for a nice dinner, Laxus felt a surge of relief that Mavis and Lucy seemed to get along well. He'd been worried since Lucy was only nine years older than the girl was which might have been weird, but Lucy had demonstrated more than once that she didn't mind weird.

Mavis led Lucy to the family's private bath, which she'd always wanted to use but was forbidden as a servant. The two sank under mineral-enhanced water and spent the better part of half an hour soaking in the bath and talking about all kinds of things. At some point in the conversation, Lucy realized Mavis was a genius in the very literal sense of the term. She knew about magic, physics, history, math...her mind was an endless tangle of fantasy and genius.

The girl wanted to look the part of a princess and after summoning Cancer again after their bath, he gave her a haircut and put her hair up neatly.

Lucy painted her nails pink and helped put the little tiara on her head. "You look like you were always supposed to be a princess, you know. You're really beautiful."

There was more truth to that observation than Mavis knew.

The little girl was so happy and felt so pretty and excited about everything she nearly tripped on the dress on the way down.

She talked non-stop during the meal, during which Master Jose waited on them and gave her occasional glares, as if she was doing something wrong just by sitting there with the prince and princess.

Mavis had no idea how to properly eat shrimp or lobster that was laid before her, as she'd been raised as a servant.

Lucy found it cute when Laxus reached over and pulled all the tails off the girl's shrimp and properly demolished the lobster for her consumption.

Mavis looked up and said, "Princess eats hers much neater than you."

"Don't get the wrong idea. _Princess_ is about as delicate as an old leather bag full of bricks," Laxus answered.

"That's _rude_ ," Mavis said.

"Hush, little one."

"That's rude too! How did you even get married acting like that?" the little girl indignantly asked.

Laxus grinned. "Because I'm a prince and I'm so charming, obviously."

The prince felt quite pleased with himself when halfway through dinner, he had two angry blondes glaring at him. There was a sense of profound appreciation yet he was playful as always, taking turns antagonizing them until they sided against him and had a rather unflattering discussion about him as if he wasn't there.

Deep down, he knew Mavis was so happy. He was happy too, and he was happy to be with someone that would allow him to raise his daughter. Laxus never imagined he'd get to have the opportunity, so this was the most unexpectedly wonderful thing that had ever happened, as far as he was concerned.

Lucy felt more than a little relieved now that she knew the girl as well, because Mavis reminded her of her when she was little: lonely, academically gifted, lost in books and imagination, with no mother in sight and a distant father. It wasn't hard for her to remember feeling desperate for the affections of a parent, so she understood why Mavis was so excited to do the kinds of things with them that most kids took for granted.

For her, the loneliness really didn't leave until she grew up and ran away from home, only to come back and accept it for the sake of her country's people. Lucy was happy that for Mavis, it could end better. And she was happy to see Laxus getting to act like a father to his precious daughter.

Mavis squealed with glee at their decadent, fancy desserts, at the fact she got to sleep in one of the fancy bedrooms, at the idea that she could spend all day the next day doing _whatever_ she wanted and that the servants couldn't make her do anything.

The plan from there was for her to go stay at the main palace with Makarov although she begged to go along with them.

Laxus knew his grandfather was going to spoil Mavis beyond rotten in their absence, and he was fine and happy with that. Makarov had adored Mavis since she was born, but like Laxus, he wasn't really able to express his affections properly.

They tucked her into bed together, and she hugged on her little teddy bear.

From there, the newly married couple went on to their own bedroom, where the prince flopped down on the bed, looking indescribably content as he stared up at the ceiling.

Lucy went to go change into her pajamas, but she hesitated and thought about everything for quite a while.

When she'd been a preteen and a younger teenager, she'd thought of arranged marriage being the highest form of prostitution. Now that she found herself in an arranged marriage, she was quickly learning that people in an arranged marriage went through the same things people did when they chose to be together.

She and Laxus were learning their way around one another and even though he hadn't stopped antagonizing her, she also knew he wanted her to be happy just like she wanted him to be happy.

Even if it was arranged, they were real.

The happiness her husband felt over Mavis was as real as anything she'd known in her life, and so was the joy the little girl felt about having a family to love and accept her. And it was hard not to love his little bright-eyed beauty of a daughter.

Going into it, they both assumed they'd just take some empty vows a live separately alongside one another, but that wasn't the way life worked. Even two days in, Lucy knew sharing her life with someone was a lot bigger than she'd thought at first. Their first assumptions were naive, but the reality that followed was actually kind of incredible.

When she came out, she knew he was happy. She knew she'd helped make him happy, and that made her feel good too.

Maybe he was happy for the first time since he was seventeen, but she really didn't know the real toll the situation had taken on either Laxus nor Mavis.

"Thank you," he quietly said as he closed his eyes, "You could ask me for anything in the world right now and I'd give it to you. Do you want the moon? All you have to do is ask."

She stood in the doorway and asked, "If I did, how would you get it down?"

"Probably by destroying it."

The blonde said, "In that case, thank you is enough."

Laxus really didn't know how to even begin to express his extreme gratitude toward his wife. He felt like she'd pulled a thorn from his side that had been aching, digging into a little deeper every year as his little girl grew from a sick newborn to a chubby little toddler to an inquisitive preschooler and now to a little girl starting to work her way towards growing up.

It was shameful to have a baby as a teenager, and it was inconvenient and it scared him half to death. But he was still a father and no matter how hard he'd tried at first, he couldn't stop himself from loving Mavis, even when he tried.

In that moment, he simply adored Lucy for allowing Mavis to be in their lives.

When she cleared her throat, he adored her even more, because she was standing next to the bed in a tiny little sky blue chemise that barely covered her backside.

The prince gave his bride a rather dumb grin. "Are you trying to tempt me, Princess?"

Her mouth turned up a little. "Maybe. Is it working?"

"Maybe," he playfully replied.

Lucy climbed onto the big bed and let out a long sigh. "Don't get me wrong. I love a good adventure but I love a big fluffy bed too."

"I put a pea under the mattress, I wonder if you'll complain and then blame me. The Princess and the Pea - Fiore Edition."

"Why would I complain about a pea when I'm sharing a bed with a big, hairy dragon man? That's like complaining about getting wet while drowning in the ocean while being circled continuously by ravenously hungry sharks."

Laxus chuckled and said, "You're bad at describing things. Maybe not bad... _creative_ , I suppose. You referred to my morning wood as a protuberance. The protuberance of a big hairy dragon man. I looked that word up while you were bathing earlier, and as it turns out, it's not like having the clap after all."

"Where did you look it up? In one of those big books full of words?" she sarcastically asked.

"And then I looked up dirty words just to see if they're in the dictionary," he answered.

Lucy nestled in a little closer. "That's _childish._ "

The prince smirked a bit.

It really was just plain fun to be with Lucy, and he knew she liked their sarcastic banter too. She was one of those women that needed to be stimulated constantly, although he didn't know yet if that was purely intellectual. He was starting to have some detailed fantasies about what she might be like intimately, but he was fine with biding his time.

Laxus looked down at her. "'Masturbate' is in the dictionary. 'Wank' isn't. Or 'wanker.' Douche is, but apparently that's not just a word for a fuckwit. It's a woman thing."

"I know that. I'm a woman."

"So, that. I want to ask a question."

"I'll punch you in the stomach if you ask _that_ ," she warned.

He ran his hand over his abs. "Might break your hand, Princess. But try your hardest."

She sat up, a slight twinkle in her eye. "Really? I can hit you?"

The prince couldn't help but laugh at how eager she was to slug him, so in the interest of making his wife happy, he nodded. "Let's see what you've got, blondie."

Instead of punching him, she slammed her closed fist downward on his abdomen in just the right place to knock the wind out of him. Air was forced from his lungs, and he twisted slightly before taking a deep breath and laughing.

"You pack quite a punch for such a cute little thing."

When he turned he found she'd come a little bit closer, so their foreheads were almost touching as they lay facing each other.

Laxus asked, "Is there anything you want? Besides beating your husband."

"What do you mean?"

"Anything."

Lucy answered, "I just want people in Caelum to be able to live better lives."

The prince said, "That's not what you want. That's why you don't have what you want. You forget, I'm a royal too. We've all paid a price."

When she thought about it, this was correct. Her desire out of obligation and duty was to do whatever was best for Caelum, but she still had personal goals too. Those had been forgotten along the way somehow.

"I want to write a book," she bashfully admitted.

"A book? One of those things with words?"

The blonde answered, "Yes, but apparently none of the words you're interested in finding in print."

Laxus said, "You'll be able to do that. I promise."

He got out of bed briefly to turn out the lights and when he crawled back into the bed, he wrapped himself around her and she lifted her head so he could slide his arm under her head.

The blonde sighed happily. "This isn't so bad."

"If you start rolling around, I swear I'll smother you with your pillow."

"You're my pillow…"

"That's makes it easier," he murmured.

Lucy went to sleep quickly, and he followed suit, leaning his head against hers as he slipped into a deep sleep. He couldn't remember ever feeling so content, so at peace, or so happy as he was lying there beside her, breathing into her hair.

His wife smelled delicate, but she was fierce. A creature of contradictions, there was little about her anyone could predict, except that she was full of surprises.

And he had the biggest crush on her.

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	5. The Princess and Her Papa

One the one-week anniversary of their marriage, Laxus and Lucy arrived in Clock Town, the once-regal capital of Caelum. The prince was eight years older than his wife, so he could remember traveling to the city as a child and seeing how great it really was.

Caelum once thrived on trade, but was a fertile land rich in natural resources.

For centuries it was prosperous, but twelve years prior, a strange plague broke out. It started in Clock Town, and as it spread, people ran from urban areas and carried it with them to every corner of the nation. The deadliness of it and the speed with which it blanketed Caelum scared all the nation's neighbors, and barriers, guards, and patrols were used to more or less successfully contain the disease within Caelum.

Lucy's mother was one of the more famous victims of the disease, and died two weeks after she first showed signs of the disease.

There were corners of the country where the disease raged on in minor outbreaks, which perpetuated strict enforcement of borders, even by Fiore. One of the intended bonuses of partnering with Fiore was financing mass purchase of the expensive vaccine.

The plague caused several things to happen in Caelum that led to its state of ruin:

First, the economy was reliant on trade and no one moved anything through the country. No one wanted anything that had been in Caelum and many nations actually banned the import of goods that had been within the borders for even one minute.

Second, the plague devastated the workforce. There were countless people disabled or too weak to do work, which created an additional burden. Most who survived had a lifetime of health problems, which guaranteed a lifetime of poverty.

And finally, after the economy collapsed the nation was unable to provide basic care for its citizens.

Caelum still controlled one of the most important ports in the world and with a little help, could perk back up despite everything that happened. Lucy's bid was one to breathe life back into her tired country, and she'd been successful.

The prince of Fiore had in his bag several documents: a military protection agreement, a trade agreement, a plan signed by his grandfather to flush the country with vaccines and other aid, and a loan document to help jump start their troubled economy.

When they arrived at the castle, Laxus found the enormous structure had clearly seen better days, but it was better for everything in Caelum to be in disrepair than for the castle to be pristine while everyone else suffered.

The king was speaking to their legislature when they arrived a day early, so Lucy showed Laxus to her old bedroom. They cleaned up and dressed, and he sat on the edge of her bed and looked around at the picturesque princess pink bedroom suite.

"Are you glad to be home?" he asked.

Lucy shook her head. "To be honest, this is the place where I was lonely. I ran away, remember? And I only came back so I could leave again."

The blonde opened her window when she saw a little blue bird approaching and it flew in and dropped an envelope in her hand before coming to rest on Lucy's finger.

In the days since Mavis and Lucy met, they wrote letters to one another every day. Laxus wasn't really a social writer, but he was happy to hear what was going on with his daughter and happier that his wife and baby were getting closer.

The princess opened the envelope and read the letter.

"What's she up to today?" he asked.

Her letters so far since she arrived back at the palace had primarily documented how Makarov was spoiling her so far beyond rotten with everything from rare magic books to beautiful dresses to remodeling one of the bedrooms according to love of the color baby blue. She was also being tutored and spent much of the day in the library, which made her happier than anything.

"Same as yesterday. The king is really quite something."

Laxus nodded. "That's Gramps. He'll spoil you too. He really likes you."

"Does she look like her mom?"

"Except for her eyes. My mother had big green eyes like that. She has my nose and chin. Maybe my cheekbones. And her feet. Her feet look like mine, oddly enough. High arches, long toes," her husband answered.

There was a knock on the door, and one of the servants informed Lucy that the king had arrived and he wanted to see them.

The prince was struck by a moment of temporary panic in which he realized he was about to meet his father-in-law for the first time. He really hadn't thought about it like that before, largely in part because he was still coming to grips with the fact that he was married.

Lucy looked a bit more dainty than usual in a tea-length yellow dress and short heels, and he loved when she was cute like this. Laxus just liked looking at her in general, but when she was having a pretty moment, he was starting to feel some mischievous, contrary urge to grab her and have his way, leaving her disheveled and sloppy in the wake of his affections.

With each day that passed, they seemed to move a little closer toward the grand consummation, but they were both happy to let it happen when it happened. There was clear mutual attraction, but there was also nervousness, self-consciousness, a significant age gap, and a lack of experience.

Laxus collected the documents and they walked down the hallway toward her father's office.

"Are you nervous about meeting my dad?" she asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course not."

"You're such a liar."

"You're such...I don't know. Fuck, you look cute right now," he replied as he let her walk two steps ahead so he could grab her by the hips from behind.

He pulled her back, and she squealed and giggled. "Stop it!"

Laxus tickled her sides a bit, and she lightly kicked him in the shin.

"This is such a serious moment!"

"I _am_ being serious. You can't just be cute, and wear little dresses that swish around. Do you know what that's like for a man? It's like dangling a string in front of a cat. The more you move, the more I want to pounce and bite," he replied

Lucy said, "If that's the case, I'll get a little water bottle and shoot you with it when you misbehave. Bad Laxus!"

He gently pushed her against the wall and leaned down. "I welcome you in your attempts to train me. This will offer me even greater amusement but will heighten my pounce and bite reflex at least five times over."

Lucy pushed him back. "Let's go talk to my dad. Business now, be an idiot later."

King Jude was just around the corner, approaching the office from another wing of the castle. He heard his daughter's private moment, and felt a world of relief because she actually sounded like a young woman in love. He didn't know how it happened, but the sound of her laughter was like medicine for his poor soul.

Since she left for Fiore, he'd had many sleepless nights, countless worries, and unending doubt about what he knew amounted to selling his daughter to the disgusting old prince Ivan. Then he received a letter from Makarov detailing an alternative that involved matching Lucy with the young prince.

Jude had an extremely low opinion of Laxus due to their last meeting. The youngest prince had a terrible reputation for being rough and crude, drinking a lot and getting into violent altercations. He was also one of the world's most powerful wizards.

But Lucy sounded _happy_.

His daughter had been unhappy most of her life since her mother died, and they'd struggled as a family. Jude was burdened by how the great country of Caelum spiraled into hell, he was lonely he lost his precious bride, and he had a little girl who looked so much like his Layla it made him hurt to look at her for years afterward.

Jude knew he'd been a terrible father, and that he'd failed her absolutely miserably. He yelled at her constantly as a child, ignored her, put unfair goals on her, and when she became old enough, negotiated an arranged marriage with King Sawarr that led to her running away from home.

When she came back, she knew the stresses that had worn on him and she chose to go to Fiore.

Hearing her giggle and flirt with her new husband made Jude feel like a huge burden had lifted from his shoulders and when he came around the corner, Lucy shoved her husband out of the way and jumped into her father's arms, squeezing him tightly.

"Papa!" she exclaimed as she took a deep breath.

A father was still a father and she had missed him so much. She'd even missed the way he smelled, and that disapproving look that seemed to be permanently chiseled to his face.

"Ah, Lucy. I'm so glad to see you. I've missed you," he admitted.

"I've missed you too."

When Lucy finally let him go, he looked her over carefully. Her eyes were bright and excited, and she looked both healthy and happy. "You look well."

Lucy smiled. "You too!"

Jude Heartfilia was almost as tall as Laxus, and had broader shoulders and a slightly more imposing form. He wasn't as well muscled as the dragon prince, but Laxus found himself oddly intimidated by his father-in-law's rather serious glare. It was disdainful, and a little on the hateful side.

Laxus shook his hand, and they stiffly settled into the large office where Lucy had received so many upsetting lectures over the years.

The king sat behind the massive desk and the younger royals sat in chairs on the other side of it.

Laxus handed a folder across the desk and waited for a few minutes while the king sorted through the documents. "It's nice to meet you," he finally said.

Lucy almost fell out of her chair and died at the sight of Prince Laxus Dreyar being _polite_. It was simply incomprehensible to her, and she wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it was, but she remained still. It seemed her father's powers of intimidation even worked on Laxus.

Jude looked up at Laxus and said, "We've met before. Twice, actually. Once when you were a little boy, and two years ago at the Continental Economic Summit. I can understand why you don't remember that, as drunk as you were."

Laxus nearly flinched.

"I'll refresh your memory if you'd like," the king offered, "You became unacceptably intoxicated, started a violent altercation with your uncle, and then vomited in the punch bowl." And then he added in a very serious, flat voice, "I'm so glad you've joined my family."

Jude Heartfilia gave him a glare that clearly communicated exactly how much he didn't like Laxus. While he was happy that his daughter seemed happy and Caelum was certainly in a better position, he was a father and it was simply his instinct to despise the one sleeping in his daughter's bed.

He looked down at his daughter and his expression softened. "Congratulations on your marriage, Lucy. Makarov sent word the day after. I am glad to see you in good spirits."

Lucy smiled. "Thanks, Papa."

"He also sent copies of these documents for review, so I'm prepared to sign them," he said, taking a pen from his desk drawer.

Jude signed the documents and then put them back in the folder. "About the sudden nature of your marriage...is there a reason you two married so quickly? Generally, when two people get married suddenly, it's due to an impropriety that has taken place."

Lucy was confused; her husband was not. She said, "What's the question, Papa?"

"Was it a matter of premarital intercourse?" he bluntly asked.

Laxus was not easily intimidated and he couldn't remember the last time he felt so squirmy. Being interrogated by his new father-in-law made him feel like he had no bones in his body and he could slither out of the chair and melt into a puddle on the floor.

Lucy was incredibly embarrassed and a little insulted by the question, and she had the funny ability to share more than was necessary, so as Laxus cut his eyes over to her, he hoped she wouldn't say it.

But she did.

Lucy blushed and sputtered, "Papa, there hasn't even been marital intercou-"

"Lucy," Laxus said, cutting her off.

Jude's brows rose in surprise at the idea that the marriage wasn't consummated. From a legal perspective, this was a huge problem, but from a father's point of view he wasn't upset. From what he'd overheard, they liked each other well enough. Considering how quickly their marriage happened, he believed they probably just needed a little time to get down to business and he'd prefer it that way. As a father, the side of arranged marriage he despised most was the idea that someone his daughter might not love would come to the wedding bed and touch her, maybe even hurt her.

Jude hated his son-in-law just a little less.

The only reason it might go awry is if they stayed together for an extended period of time and didn't get down to it. Judging from overhearing his son-in-law refer to his 'pounce and bite' instincts, that wasn't going to be a problem.

The king said, "Remember it's a legal issue. Don't let too much time go by. And remember, you might be public figures, but marriage is private. You have an obligation to the public to produce children, but everything else is strictly your own private business and you have to protect your marriage. If you fight or have problems in the bedroom or disagreements about raising your children...just keep it between yourselves and your closest family. Don't let servants overhear. Don't complain about one another to anyone, even your family."

The newlyweds really didn't know _how_ to be a married couple, but all of this seemed like good advice that rang true when they considered their own royal upbringings.

They nodded in understanding.

Jude looked from one to the other. "I have some questions about something else. There was an announcement that the two of you adopted a child."

Lucy started to put together some explanation in her mind, but before she could say anything, Laxus spoke.

"She's my daughter. She was born when I was a teenager," he said.

Laxus had no reason to lie to him as Jude would never use the information to harm him or tell anyone else. It would only hurt Caelum and Lucy disastrously if there was a Mavis problem, and Jude didn't seem like the spiteful type to use blackmail anyway.

Jude looked tense and a little unhappy for a moment. "She's an illegitimate child you're going to legitimize by adopting her." He looked to Lucy and asked, "What are your feelings on this?"

Lucy smiled a bit. "I was a little intimidated at first, but she and I get along, Papa. Besides, a girl needs her Daddy and I think a Daddy needs his little girl too, right?"

This argument seemed to break the king, but he didn't show it too much.

"Since there's no heir to Caelum at present, I would prefer that you have two sons at a minimum. Your younger son can be groomed to someday lead this nation. For Caelum and Fiore to someday be ruled by brothers is a grand plan for the future of both nations. Please keep that in mind as you have and raise your little ones," the king said.

The conversation from there shifted to war, politics, economics, and other matters of state. When it came to those things, Lucy was less of his baby girl and more his partner, an integral piece of their state politics and the lynchpin of Caelum's recovery plan.

Jude found Laxus was very bright but seemed to have a short attention span. The prince seemed to let Lucy be the brains on issues where she was stronger, and she had a dangerously sharp intellect that was bested only by her razorsharp tongue. Her father believed the prince did well by letter her spread her wings, and he was thankful that somehow, by some bizarre miracle of fate, Lucy had landed with someone who embraced her strengths. Most men, especially powerful men, were very intimidated by intelligent women.

On the other hand, when it came to war, Laxus was an ace.

Jude found they made a good team, and they'd clearly started to find out how to communicate not only with each other, but as a couple. They were both young, and they respected one another, and that was more than he'd ever hoped for.

And then, quite abruptly, the king said to Laxus, "I don't have any more to discuss with you until dinner. You can leave."

Laxus took a deep breath and stood, knowing it would benefit him nothing to go at it with Lucy's father. At least, there was no reason for them to have words _in front of her_. Laxus and Jude both knew damn well that there were other things that they needed to say to one another that didn't need to be said in front of Lucy.

Besides, they both knew she'd chew them both out if they were rude to one another and neither of them wanted to piss her off at the moment.

Once Laxus was gone, Jude stood and looked out the window. "Are you happy, Lucy?"

"Yes, Papa. It surprises me, but I am. He's actually a really ummm...I don't know how to describe him, but we're doing alright," she said.

"He treats you well?" Jude asked, turning to face her.

The blonde nodded. "He actually treats me really well. He's a little rough, I guess, but I think I needed that. I think I'd be bored with someone who was nice all the time."

"Like King Sawarr?"

"I've heard about what King Sawarr's been doing at the Fiori border, and there's nothing nice about it. He might have good manners, but he is a spineless, gutless coward," she said.

Jude seemed surprised by how incensed she was about the plight of Fiore at the border. Makarov didn't want to pick a fight with their nation, but there had been a conflict going on that had demolished many cities along the border.

Then again, Lucy loved everyone, regardless of their nation of origin. She was going to make an excellent queen, although Jude knew Makarov wasn't going to let her sit around be that pretty if she was also as smart as she was.

"I'm so relieved. I know I wasn't the best father...or even a good one for that matter. But I was afraid for you. I didn't believe you could ever be happy with Ivan, and at other times I worried he might hurt you," Jude said.

Lucy grinned. "Papa, don't be silly. I could have kicked his wrinkly old butt on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday."

Jude smiled just a little when he heard her jump up and held her when she hugged him again. "I'm so proud of you," he said.

"I'm happy to have you for a dad you know. Over there, I think about you all the time, and sometimes, I wish I could just walk down the hall and come talk to you. It makes me sad when I think we'll never live together gain. And I think maybe we didn't make the best of the time we had, but we can't change anything that happened. The future is going to be better," she answered.

There was a part of him that wanted to tell her miserable and how alone he really was without her. His wife was gone, his daughter had married and moved on, and he was left alone in a dark old castle. There were times he would have sworn it was haunted by the sounds of laughter of his late wife and daughter.

His reign had been marked by tragedy, in the nation and within his own personal life as well. And when he considered how great his dreams were when he was young, he knew he'd probably never achieve any of them.

But he could hug his daughter now, and he wanted to do so for as long as possible, because she wasn't just his little girl anymore. She was a wife, and she was the future queen of Fiore. She didn't have any time left to just be his little girl, which reminded him of all the times she'd been standing there in the office begging for his time and he never gave it.

Ultimately, their roles had switched.

Lucy knew he was sad and she suspected she knew why. She couldn't change anything that was happening, so she didn't bring it up. Her father was a bad father, but he was a good man.

When he finally let her go, she said, "Papa, you could be with someone you know."

He shook his head. "Your mother was the only one. You know, we were like you two once. Young. In love. Neither one of us expected it, but that's what made it so wonderful. She was so smart and so kind. You're so much like her."

Jude suddenly tensed and let go of her hands as she held his. "Lucy."

"What is it?"

"Are you going to go fight? Makarov said in his letter you're accompanying your husband so you can get pregnant, but that doesn't sound like you at all. When you ran away from home, you tore a streak across Caelum. The crime rate dropped. I feel like you're just using that as a cover to go fight, and Makarov doesn't know you're just as sneaky as his grandson is," the king said.

Lucy didn't deny it.

And he didn't try to stop her, because Lucy was choosing her own future.

Jude did want to make her aware of the risks.

"There's something about your mother that I decided I wouldn't tell you, but I think it's appropriate."

"A-About Mama?"

The king looked back out the window. "We planned on having a big family. When we were newlyweds, we used to talk about when this place would be filled with the pitter-patter of little feet. But before we got married, your mother was injured in a battle with another wizard and sustained internal injuries. She had miscarriage after miscarriage, always early on. We'd find out there was a baby, and then it would all be over a week or two weeks later.

"When you came along, we were scared to tell anyone or to really let ourselves be happy for a while because we were worried it would end in more disappointment. Having you took a big toll on her body. She was always weak after that, but she wanted to have a son. She might have survived the sickness if she hadn't had a miscarriage when she fell ill."

In her mind, Lucy could piece together a cycle she observed in her mother where she'd be happy, and then sad and weak and then okay. She didn't know there was a reason, and she definitely didn't know her parents had been through so much.

Her mother never mentioned wanting other children, but she could remember asking for a sister once and her mother cried.

"It was because of a fight she had?" Lucy asked.

Jude nodded. "Be careful. With men, we can throw our bodies around and as long as we don't die, it's fine. But you have to become a mother, and that requires more than you think."

All her life, Lucy thought her mother had been sad because of her father, but the truth was that she'd been sad because she wanted to have more children.

Lucy said, "I'm sorry, Papa."

"What are you apologizing for?"

His daughter said, "I've always been mad at you because I thought you were the reason Mama was always so sad."

"I've always known. I was a terrible father, so it must have been easy to believe. But no point in worrying about any of that now. Your mother is a part of both our pasts. I just wanted you to know to be careful," he said when she hugged on him again. "We should get ready for dinner."

They had a delicious but tense dinner, and Lucy found there was something indescribably wonderful about eating her favorite food made the way she was used to eating it growing up.

She ignored the glares flying between the prince and the king.

The husband and father-in-law were natural enemies as far as she was concerned, like the cobra and the mongoose. There was no reason to take note of it or to address it as long as she wasn't disturbed. She was sure her father was just imagining how terrible Laxus was, and Laxus seemed to be daring him to continue doing so.

Jude invited him to have a drink after dinner, and the princess knew this was an invitation to drink whiskey and trade insults, so she planned out a nice, long bubble bath during which she'd be happily undisturbed by her husband.

Lucy went upstairs, and found her former nanny already lit candles and ran a big bubble bath just the way she liked. She stripped and sank beneath the bubbles with a sigh, considering all she'd learned.

Everyone always compared her to Layla, and as it turned out, she had something else in common with her mother no one had noticed yet: she married a complete jerk just like her mother. And just like her mother, she was somehow able to see the best in Laxus and bring the best out in him, just like her mother did for her father. Once her mother was gone, her father never recovered, and she could look at the situation as an adult and understand it was because her mother wasn't there to help him be his best.

Her mind wandered on until she returned to the subject of sex.

And the issue was that she wanted to have it. She was nervous, but she was falling hard for Laxus and her whole body was going with her. After this night, they were going to be in battle, and so this was really the last opportunity for her to be properly clean and lose her virginity in a bed rather than in a tent because there was no way they were going to continue to not have sex. It had become an inevitability for them, and that seemed right and normal, since they were married and they cared about one another.

Lucy groomed herself immaculately, from body scrubs to the razor and lotion. She washed and conditioned her hair, and fixed it in big curls. When she dug through her drawers, she found a black lace bra and some panties.

She felt sexy, and nervous, and maybe a little crazy as she paced the floor waiting for him to come up.

The ironic thing is that the bed she would lose her virginity in was the very place she'd stayed up at night imagining how terrible arranged marriage would be.

Laxus came up after having a few shots of whiskey with his disapproving father-in-law (who actually did approve but refused to show it), and found his blushing bride sitting on the edge of the bed in an outfit that clearly communicated that she had plans for them.

The dragonslayer shut the door, and then locked it. "You ready, Princess?"

She nodded.

He felt relieved because he'd been getting a little needy. With every small step they'd taken, he constantly wanted more, his body craving intimacy with her a little more with every night they went to bed together.

Laxus came and sat beside her on the bed.

He lifted her chin with his fingertips as he leaned down to kiss her and found her neck was stiff from nerves. Laxus honestly wasn't in better sorts, and found his heart thumped hard enough he was sure it was trying to escape from his chest.

It had been over eight years since his first and only prior sexual encounter, and he was determined to do it right this time. He wanted to hear her call out her name as she hit her crescendo, because he knew he sure as hell was going to get there.

He just hoped it wasn't embarrassingly early.

Lucy took his jacket off and then began unbuttoning his shirt as she looked up into his eyes.

Her hands were shaking and she her breathing seemed a little labored as she reached the hem and opened the shirt, revealing his muscled chest and abdomen.

Laxus was trying to deepen the kiss when their teeth clinked together, which caused the kiss to break.

Lucy suddenly erupted into laughter, "God, we're so awkward. I've been trying to figure out which one of us is the smooth one, and I just realized there's no such thing between us."

"I was trying to be romantic. It's not my fault you have such big teeth."

She hit him with the pillow and climbed up on the bed. "...says the guy who literally, actually has _fangs_."

Laxus snapped his teeth together in a playfully menacing manner and crawled up onto her, pushing her onto the pillows. "I may not be romantic. Or smooth. But I _am_ handsome. Surely that counts for something."

"Handsome? Says who?" she teased.

He wiggled his fingers in a certain way, mischief flashing in his eyes.

Lucy knew what he was about to do and quickly tried to bargain. "W-Wait! You're handsome, okay?! Best looking guy in the whole woooo-" she squealed as he descended on her, tickling her bare abdomen until she was half-gasping, half-giggling in between squeals.

When he finally relented, he was smirking as he breathed against her cheek.

Lucy turned to face him, panting, mouth just an inch from his. She wasn't sure if something was wrong with them as a couple, or if this was how real people took care of their business. They were awkward, they were nervous, they laughed and snuggled and tickled. Their attempts to be 'romantic' always ended in laughter.

So they smiled while they kissed and the dragon shrugged off his shirt.

Her hands moved up and down his back, and he noticed she was feeling him up in a way that seemed a bit strange.

"What is it?"

"Your body is hard everywhere. It's interesting," she said.

Laxus chuckled. "Tell me not to make a dick joke so I can do it anyway."

When he moved his body closer to hers, her legs parted slightly, allowing him to crawl between her legs and prop himself up, resting his hot, heavy body against her legs. He cupped her face and kissed her, and this time successfully deepened the kiss, brushing his tongue against hers.

He rolled his hips against her, his tented pants nudging at her panties, and it startled her to feel his erection like that. Some combination of being nervous, strong, and having fast reflexes all came together in one big _oops_ , and she jumped and headbutted him so hard their foreheads made a distinct clunk and he rolled off her, holding his head and she did the same.

She sat up. "S-Sorry. It startled me."

He sat up on his elbows and was about to make an obnoxious comment when he saw her hand reach out for him. He froze and practically held his breath.

God, he wanted her to touch it so bad it twitched when her index finger lightly prodded it.

Then, she traced it with two fingers with a little more pressure and he nearly whined at the stimulation.

Lucy unbuttoned his pants. "Can I?"

He nodded and she unfastened them, and then pulled the zipper gently. She tugged his pants off then and threw them on the floor next to the bed. Beneath, he was wearing some short boxers against which his erection was straining.

Lucy climbed on top of him and he sat up immediately, causing her to settled straddled across his lap as he embraced her tightly and came down for a kiss.

Laxus' hands moved to where her bra was fastened and he pulled first, and then tried to unfasten it properly. His fingers pulled again, and when the fabric slipped from his fingers, it snapped back at her skin and she broke the kiss.

"You have no idea how to take off a woman's bra, do you?" she asked as she smiled and cupped his face.

"You better help me because I'm going to zap it in about two seconds," he replied.

His wife reached behind her and unfastened the bra, and he pulled it off with a little more enthusiasm than was necessary because her breasts were absolutely _fantastic_. They were better than any he'd seen in General Gildarts' 'field research manuals.' They were perfectly sized, perky, with cute little pink nipples.

Laxus rolled her onto her back and kissed down her jawbone while he pawed at one of her breasts in a way she didn't necessarily enjoy. She thought about just tolerating it, but that didn't really make sense. If she didn't explain, he'd keep doing it and it wasn't comfortable. The action of his hand was similar to a person trying to juice an orange and she was just sure he was doing it very wrong.

She put her hand on his. "Gentle…"

As soon as he relaxed his grip, she came to the understand that breast stimulation was incredible. He paid attention to her, trying to figure out what she liked. She gasped when he flicked his thumb over one of her nipples, so his mouth moved down and she felt his tongue.

Their bodies started to move and find a rhythm while hands and mouths explored carefully.

Laxus was a little rough, and she was a little timid. It was nowhere near perfect or anything like the books, but then again, it would be weird if they got ready to make love and were anything but their usual selves.

"Touch me," he all but pled.

Her hand moved downward and when she made even the slightest contact, his hips jerked into her hand, communicating a need she knew she'd soon meet.

The dragonslayer felt embarrassed when she said the word 'gentle' for the third time. It was difficult, because every part of him was excited and he was strong. She was small and her body was wonderfully soft and she smelled so damn good. He basically felt like he was doing a lot of things wrong, and according to the world in general they probably needed to be doing the full course of foreplay but at that point adding chapters to the story would make it more complicated.

He emerged from their moment briefly. "I forgot something important. I'll be right back."

He gave her a quick kiss and walked across the room to his bag.

There was a box of condoms somewhere in his bag, but it wasn't where he looked and then not in the second place, so he decided in his aroused frenzy the best course of action would be simply dump the bag out.

Lucy sat up and watched him rifle through his belongings like a madman, which was actually very funny to her because Laxus was actually very neat and always packed everything away neatly folded. It was pretty clear he didn't give a damn about anything else except whatever he was looking for.

The princess was glad it was like this. They were awkward and clumsy and unpracticed, but they were doing it together, and that made it kind of fun.

Laxus came to the harrowing realization that at some point, he'd forgotten the condoms, or maybe they'd fallen out when he was re-packing. In the back of his mind, he believed there was also a chance his grandfather might be responsible as their bags were unattended for a few hours before they left from the palace.

"We don't have protection. You want to finish tomorrow?" he said in disappointment.

"In a tent? Hell no," she crossly answered.

He returned to the bed and sat next to her. "So?"

Lucy said, "Let's do it."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Your luck can't be that bad."

The prince was so horny risks had become a blurred irrelevancy to him, but according to his dragon senses, she was missing that fertile smell so her body probably wasn't at that point. With Jenny, he hadn't known what it meant. And yet, this situation was familiar: desire outweighing common sense.

They were quiet for awhile, and Lucy finally said, "I just really want to do this so much I don't care right now what happens."

He bent down and kissed her, and then kissed down her body as they slipped back into the haze of arousal, having decided not to concern themselves with whether or not their actions would have unwanted consequences.

Laxus had never been so turned on as a proper adult before, and discovered that as a grown man with a wife, the more turned on he got, the more appealing the idea of getting her pregnant was. When he thought about it in that moment, it was exciting to think of her waddling about the palace with a baby inside. But he also knew the human mind is extremely warped when sexual urges surge to life, and dragon instincts were worse.

In the morning, the idea of having a baby would seem awful again and he knew it.

He slid her panties down and she lifted her legs so he could toss them aside. She was immaculately groomed and judging from the little bumps, he assumed she'd just shaved her pubic hair for the first time in her life. Laxus hadn't been with enough women to have a preference on that subject, but it did kind of make him somehow harder to think she'd prepared her body for this little misadventure they were having.

When he attempted to ease her knees apart, he found them firmly pressed together. "Lucy? What on earth are you doing?"

She nervously asked, "Can we get under the covers? And turn out the lights?"

"Seriously? I want to look at you," he complained.

"...please?"

He gave in without a fight because she was younger than he was and she was a virgin. If being in the dark would make her comfortable, that's what they were going to do.

Besides, he was a dragon and he could in the dark anyway.

Lucy got under the covers and he took his boxers off and followed suit after turning out all the lights in the room. She parted her legs so he could situate himself, and he came down to kiss her again while one hand slowly caressed downward until his fingertips were between her legs.

Lucy drew in a sharp breath, but didn't headbutt him this time, and he was happy with this as it was a sign of progress.

The blonde was surprised at the wet, slippery state of her womanhood as one fingertip slid between her lips, causing her to gasp for air and emit a little moan.

That little sound was enough to make him painfully hard and desperate to be inside of her.

"You know it's going to hurt?" he whispered.

She nodded and held onto him. "Be gentle, okay?"

"When was I not?"

"You are like a bull in a china closet, Laxus."

He brought himself to her opening. "I'll be careful putting my bull into your china closet."

She laughed. "You're such an idiot. I love you anyway."

Lucy hadn't mean to tell him she loved him. They hadn't really gotten to that yet, and if he wasn't going to say it, well, she was determined she wouldn't either. Once it slipped out, she wanted to take it back, but his response to it was too cute.

"I wasn't trying to fall in love with you either, but I can't fucking help it," he said before kissing her on the cheek.

Laxus worked himself in slowly at first, determined not to mess up his grand entry. He was a little big, and her body was just generally tiny compared to his. He met resistance, and broke her hymen in one somewhat awkward, hesitant stroke that caused Lucy to cry out in pain and dig her fingernails into him.

There was the stench of blood, but Lucy was surprised it didn't hurt as much as she expected.

Then again, she was a wild one and liked to get into fights, so her threshold for pain tolerance was a little different. For someone who fought, even someone like her, there was a part of physical pain that was innately arousing, usually to the point of energizing the fight.

Maybe she liked that it hurt, she realized.

The pain really didn't go away as their bodies found a rhythm together, but she found her arousal climbed steadily as she listened to the way he panted between kisses.

The prince was meanwhile so happy he didn't even know what to do except keep moving. It felt _so damn good_ there were no words. Everything about making love to his wife was amazing from the physical and emotional tidal wave he'd been swept up in to the awkward buildup where they were free to laugh and be themselves while they tried to get to this point.

Everytime he slid all the way home, she let out a little moan and her hips slowly started to move upward to meet his.

He tried to keep himself as calm as possible, but as it turned out, a steady regimen of unsatisfying masturbation did wonders for helping him last longer and he was pleased when he didn't lose it two minutes in.

She whimpered for him to give her more, and their collective self-control started to unravel as the speed and force increased with every touch.

He growled, she moaned loudly, and their bodies thrust together powerfully and quickly until she screamed his name so loud and convulsed almost like she was having a seizure for a few seconds. He wasn't sure whether or not this meant she had an orgasm, but he already felt like he was at the point of no return so he came anyway and hoped she was finished too.

Laxus flopped down next to her and both lay there panting in the dark for the better part of a minute.

Lucy felt him crawl up on her as was becoming their custom.

The best way to coexist with Laxus in the bed was to accept the fact that he was going to more or less squish her, squeeze her, or just lay on her like she was a big pillow. His head ended up on one breast and before she could say anything, there was a loud, growling snore.

"So you're not only going to squash me under your disgustingly enormous, suffocatingly hot body, but you're also going to growl at me."

 _Snorreee….growl_

"Goodnight, you big goofy dragon. Love you," she whispered.

When she awoke again, it was later in the morning than she'd planned to wake up and Laxus was freshly showered, laying next to her as he stared down at her adoringly. He seemed happy and well-rested, and madly in love.

"Good morning," he said as he bent down to give her a kiss.

Lucy sat up and pulled the sheets up to cover her breasts quickly, although this seemed pointless. Something about having sex made her feel unbothered about him seeing her naked, although an argument could be made that seeing her like that was uncomfortable because she knew she was a mess.

"Morning," she answered with a slight grin. "You slept well?"

"I don't even remember going to sleep."

His wife said, "You sort of just...ejaculated and then started snoring. I don't think there was an in between time for you."

That was embarrassing, but somehow, he didn't care.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Why?"

"Have you seen the sheets?"

Lucy looked under the covers and found there was quite a bit of blood on the sheets. "Oh wow. I'm fine. Sore, I think."

"Too sore for another round?" he asked.

She wiggled a little and winced. "Yeah. Maybe tonight?"

He nodded.

Lucy went to shower and found he waited on her like a little puppy. It was cute and becoming intimate had clearly shifted their relationship although it was nothing like she'd imagined. Before they got down to it, she imagined they'd have some hazy, romantic romp. They had sex like they did everything else: laughing, with awkward moments and sarcastic commentary.

She really wouldn't have it any other way.

He was really the only person she ever could have been herself with, and she knew he must have felt the same way. Born into royal blood, they'd lived their entire lives being told who to be, and yet somehow, they'd found a mate in life that allowed them to be themselves.

On the other hand, sex was _gross_ , and as she stood in the shower, she wondered how she could get all the Laxus out of her.

He alternatively, liked the fact she smelled like he'd had his way with her and was pleased when she emerged from the shower and still faintly smelled like him.

They found out Jude went on a trip to the interior and hadn't so much as told Lucy goodbye, and she was more than a little sad about this. But it just made her feel less guilt about leaving him alone to live her life.

Lucy wrote a letter to Mavis while he packed their stuff and made quiet plans in his head.

They were two days from the front, which meant they could stage their first strike for two and a half days. According to weather forecasts in the paper, inclement weather conditions were expected, and there was no greater advantage that violent thunderstorms when one was a lightning dragonslayer on a team with a sky dragonslayer and the world's greatest water elementalist.

When they traveled, Lucy didn't drift from one person to another with her chatter like always. She barely left his side and they spend much of the day giving each other secret smiles.

At lunch, they stopped briefly to cook and eat so they could make it to a safe place to camp that night and she sat next to him on a rock where he was tearing a large chunk of meat apart with his hands.

He looked at her plate and saw a tiny slice of pork with beans and a piece of bread. At least it was tiny to him, although it would be considered a healthy portion to nutritionists and anyone who didn't happen to be a dragonslayer.

"Ummmm…" she started.

"What's wrong?" he asked, "Are you not feeling well? Your appetite seems bad."

Lucy looked down at her plate. "This is how much normal people eat. I'm sorry I just don't want to be very far away from your right now."

"I don't want you to get very far from me either."

The situation made him wish they had a proper honeymoon where they could spend a few days in bed having sex and looking at each other, but their marriage was prompted by the war boiling just north of them.

He was already looking forward to when it was over and they could go home and live as a family with Mavis, but life had taught him to be patient.

When they made camp for the night, she fastened the tent door closed and found him looking at his map again. At the sight of her, he threw it aside and they crashed into each other hungrily.

...and half an hour later, he was snoring again.

"Is post-coital narcolepsy a thing?" his wife grumbled at him.

 _SNORRRREEEEE_

"I'll take that as a yes."

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	6. The Dragon Prince and Warrior Princess

In the morning, they would fight.

But for now, they were a tangled mess between the blankets of their tent. Having successfully crossed the threshold into intimacy, they were exploring one another and discovering a lot about themselves in the process. It was the practice of hands and mouths and bodies and what felt right and what made their mate groan with desire.

Laxus was amazed at how wonderful her body felt; her skin was so silky, and her curves were just the right amount of soft. She was warm, and she had a gentle touch with him. They laughed a lot at their clumsy explorations, but it was comfortable like that because they had to communicate.

She was likewise amazed at what a perfect specimen of man her husband really was. He was tall, with bulging muscles that were just the right size and big, rough hands that wandered over her carefully. She could kiss that well-chiseled jaw all day and still want more from the statuesque dragonslayer.

He knew he had to pace himself, because once he struck the jackpot, he knew he was going to be gone. He actually didn't remember falling asleep after sex, but according to Lucy, as soon as he was spent he passed out. This meant it was _her first_ , and then her again, and then her after that, because he liked how when she had an orgasm it was so powerful her leg muscles would twitch for a minute afterward.

This sweet, delicious torture acquainted Lucy with the strange craving to be filled and when she'd had enough, she pushed him and got on top of him, content to take what she now felt was rightfully hers.

"Good God...this view…" he purred as he looked up at her while she cautiously moved to find the way to best maneuver up and down, with a little rotation of her hips that made him groan.

They finished, he lost consciousness, and she shook her head as she dismounted. "Honestly, Laxus...you're pathetic."

 _Snoooorreee….Growwwwwwllll_

"And ridiculous," she said as she tried to remove the condom without making a mess and failed. Semen was a bit gross to her still, but at least this time the gooey, thick smelly substance wasn't inside of her. She didn't really see the romance in it. "Eww…."

 _Snoooorreee….Growwwwwwllll_

"You're a little bit pitiful too. Big scary dragon can't handle having an orgasm."

 _Snoooorreee….Growwwwwwllll_

He rolled over in his sleep to squash her, and she sighed, kissed his forehead, and snuggled up to get comfortable under his substantial weight before joining him in sleep. As uncomfortable as he could be, she somehow slept so well when they were nestled in close. She liked the sound of his breath and the purring growl he made when he went to sleep happy.

The next morning, they woke up early to find there were storm clouds on the horizon.

Lucy made her way down to where the nearby river bent around some rocks, which created a peaceful, secluded place for her to bathe and reflect on everything.

Having sex made her feel a certain confidence about her body that she didn't have before, and she honestly just liked it. She'd spent most of the last few years dreading having to lay down with someone in an arranged marriage, but when it came down to it, it was amazing.

And she and he were falling in love in their own weird way.

Laxus joined her for a quick bath, but he was already shifting into military mode. That didn't mean he wasn't happy to have someone to wash his back, and when he felt her washcloth on his shoulders, he smiled a little.

"Happy and Charle scouted out the front, and it looks like two groups of wizards about a mile apart. In the middle is a gorge, and that's a huge pain to work around, so we're going to wait for them to come closer. That'll also give the storm some time to get to us," he said.

"We want to fight in the rain?"

"It's our strongest advantage."

He washed her back while he was thinking, and then when she was getting out of the water, he snapped out of his army mindset and looked up at her wet, naked body.

She grinned a little. "Now you're attentive."

"You want to get back in the water for a few minutes?"

"No, because if I do that, you'll be in an orgasm coma when the enemy attacks. Unfortunately, you can't defeat them with your disgusting snoring," she teased.

Laxus climbed out of the water onto the rocks and did what vaguely resembled a dog shaking the water off of him and then with a burst of lightning, dried the rest of it. "That's fine. Deny me now, but know I'm going to get you tonight."

"I can't wait," she playfully answered while she dried off.

Since they were going to be fighting and in inclement weather, Lucy put on one of Levy's extra uniforms: insulated undergarments to keep her warm, boots, and camouflage pants and a jacket that wouldn't absorb the rain very much. She took off her engagement ring just to ensure it didn't get lost, put her hair up in a ponytail, and gathered with the others to hear Laxus' grand strategy.

Laxus had five locations and split them up into five strike teams. Since they were going wizard against wizard, the battle might be highly unconventional, and Lucy had heard that this particular group presided over absolute chaos in battle.

She was surprised that Laxus assigned her to Natsu's group, although it also made her feel happy and that he truly respected her, since those were some of his heaviest hitters. After being in the palace with Gray and Natsu during their punishment time, they were all anxious to fight. There was also Erza, but Lucy was a bit intimidated by the famed wizard still.

His final warning was, "Be on the lookout. One of the groups is going to encounter Gajeel Redfox. His scent is here. If it's your group, use flares. Don't engage him."

Lucy noticed Juvia flinched uncomfortably at the mention of Gajeel, but she didn't have an opportunity to ask why and upon further thought, realized it might not be her business. Levy looked like she might cry, and she made a note to ask Laxus if Gajeel had some personal link with anyone in their group.

After the debriefing, they packed up and just before Lucy's group left, Laxus met her.

"Be careful, Princess."

"You too," she said with a grin, "I'll see you later okay?"

He put his fingers under her chin and tilted her head up to kiss her lightly on the lips.

She blushed because everyone in the camp saw and was watching curiously. "H-Hey, people are looking!"

"So?"

He considered doing worse, but he didn't want to rattle her nerves or get kicked in the nuts in front of his men so he refrained.

They parted ways, and Lucy began a long hike up a rocky hillside with Natsu, Happy, Gray, and Erza. They moved quietly but quickly, and as they neared a place to climb down, Happy returned from a flyover and said their enemies were few in number, but close.

"I recognized one of them. It's Cobra!" Happy exclaimed.

Natsu cracked his knuckles. "Alright! His ass is mine this time! I thought I smelled his stench!"

There was a clap of thunder, and Lucy jumped and ducked behind a rock. Her heart pounded, she peeked around, and she raised an unsteady hand to pull herself up to another rock.

Erza said, "Don't tell me you're scared of thunder, Lucy."

"You don't need to point out the irony to me. I get it," she said.

It wasn't like she was scared of _all_ thunder. The light thunder of Laxus sparring in the garden or a little gentle thunder miles away was fine. It was when it was close that she felt fear, and maybe a little excitement. But mostly fear.

Lucy tried to calm her nerves and continue, but the rocks were slippery and suddenly, a fight broke out and the rocky hill shook with the violence of Cobra and Natsu meeting.

Erza leapt forward and down at clash with a wizard Lucy didn't recognize but would later learn was Kagura, and Gray was fighting somewhere too.

Lucy was about to try and get to Erza when she felt someone grab her by the hair.

"Hello, Little Bunny Princess, Call me Gajeel," he said as he jerked her backward, holding her off the side of the hill by her ponytail.

Lucy kicked him hard in the chin, and as he fell, grabbed onto a rock and climbed up to stable ground. "Open Gate of the Lion!"

Through a haze of enchantment, Gajeel was amazed at how well-trained, powerful, and well-prepared she was and had she been against nearly any other opponent, he had no doubts she might have one. But dragonslayers were playing the game at a different level and she wasn't at that level.

Loke vanished with one steel rod to the stomach, and Cancer and Taurus followed suit.

Lucy was quickly faced with an opponent she couldn't even scratch and she'd already used all the gold keys she had except one.

Lucy held her Aquarius key in the rain just as Gajeel prepared to use his roar and as the swirling vortex of magic came at her, it was intercepted by an even more powerful cyclone of water.

Due to the rain, Natsu didn't smell the scent of Gajeel nearby, so he didn't realize his friend was in trouble as she waged a somewhat disappointing and one-sided battle. She wasn't the one who had the flares, and when Gajeel finally overwhelmed Aquarius and Lucy was left alone, his second roar made contact and shredded most of her clothes, covering her skin in tiny cuts and abrasions that stung with every rain drop.

Lucy was so frustrated she almost felt like crying.

She couldn't stand for it to play out like it was. She wasn't a damsel in distress, or some cute little girl entertaining delusions of greatness. She was a powerful wizard in her own right, and she wasn't about to let Gajeel or anyone else change that.

Gajeel kicked her hard in the stomach and she went tumbling down the rocky hill, bashing her head hard on a rock, and her ribs and arms and legs on others.

She landed in a puddle of mud caused by the runoff from the hill and sat up, waist-deep in mud.

Her head was spinning and she saw little white tendrils at the edges of her vision that indicated she'd probably gotten a concussion. Ears ringing, another powerful roar ripped what was mostly left of her jacket and undershirt, leaving her in scraps of camouflage and her blue sports bra.

He pushed her head in the mud and held it there for a long time while she flailed around, only successful enough to get one breath before she went under again.

When he picked her up by the hair and held her up in front of his face, she saw it.

Something was wrong with him.

In a real fight, an enemy should have bright, alert eyes. His eyes were glazed over and dull, as if he was half asleep. Even when he dropped her and beat her, she watched and he was still blank.

It was as if he didn't have an active will to do what he was doing, which meant he was probably under an enchantment. Lucy was smart enough to know if he was enchanted, there was something on his body that held the enchantment, or that the enchanter was very close.

Lucy pulled on his jacket with all her might and tore it where Loke had already ripped it, and as it fell, she saw the tattoo on his arm that signified he was part of Laxus' military group.

He was one of them, but under an enchantment and under a different kingdom.

She knew this must have been the reason that some of the wizards had been so upset at the mention of his name. Perhaps, she decided, they'd only seen the bad things he was doing and didn't know that he didn't even want to do them.

Lucy would learn later on that Gajeel and Juvia joined the Fiore military after being defeated as a rebel group. He'd not fit in well at first, but eventually grew along with the others. He even found someone to love in Levy, and then he vanished and reappeared fighting for Alvarez.

Around his neck, there was a black, hard, thick collar that sat low at the base of his neck.

Lucy could feel the dark magic coming from it, and she knew if she could just break it, or somehow get it off of him that the fight would end.

Until then, he was going to keep beating her, kicking her, and shaking her by the hair.

God, it hurt so bad, but she had to help him.

He kicked her again, and she screamed at the ground as a distinct _snap_ could be heard.

Almost a mile away, Laxus felt a stab at his side as he was fighting like he'd been hit, but not quite. He knew she was in trouble, but he also knew to respect her and trust and believe in her. If he couldn't do that, they couldn't work together in the war and that would have devastated Lucy and made her unhappy.

"Win, Lucy," he whispered.

She could have sworn she heard his voice as she stood up and threw herself at Gajeel. She might not have had any more spirits for him to hurt, but she had her own body and she was a well-trained and ambitious fighter.

Lucy was determined to save him, because she knew if he ran into another dragonslayer they might fight to the death before the enchantment was broken.

With a shriek of a growl, she grabbed the necklace and channeled as much magic as she could into it as she pulled. The dark energy was powerful, and it stung her skin and then her blood as she fought it with the determination to save him.

Even if the magic was more powerful than hers, her mother taught her that the heart was the most important thing that determined magic power. Gajeel had no heart in his battle. His enchanter had a heart of evil. She had a heart to release him so he could live.

The necklace shattered to pieces as it broke and Gajeel crumbled to the ground, face down in the puddle.

Lucy pushed him over onto his back and pulled him onto the firm ground, panting, and laid still, holding her side as she fought the urge to cry at how bad she was hurt. She was sure she had at least one broken rib, and his breath attack left her covered in cuts and scrapes that oozed droplets of blood.

They laid in the rain there and the water washed blood and mud off of her even as it stung her skin.

Alvarez' battle strategy went to hell as the fights unfolded in various places as they'd been highly reliant on having two dragonslayers, Cobra and Gajeel, but Natsu took down Cobra and Lucy defeated Gajeel in her own way.

In their strategy plans, they only believed Gajeel could be defeated by Laxus.

Alvarez had not planned for Lucy, or that she'd take the dragonslayer they'd stolen and take him right back, which made Gajeel even worse than a proper loss. If he'd been killed, they'd lose a soldier, but since he was saved, the other side got one of their strongest back.

Lucy decided as she sat there in the rain that she'd count it as a victory even though she really didn't defeat Gajeel in the most literal sense. She protected someone who should have been an ally, and that was most important.

Laxus was meanwhile concerned that he'd never seen flares indicating Gajeel had been seen. The rain masked scents and he didn't smell the dragonslayer, but after the fighting had subsided and they'd captured, defeated, and caused the enemy to flee, he went from one strike team to another.

The rain eased up as he approached Natsu's group, and he smelled Gajeel immediately. His first assumption was that Natsu had a little 'dragon moment' and decided not to signal for help, but Natsu was barely able to move after his fight with Cobra. He also smelled Lucy's blood, and that made him furious.

He found Gajeel unconscious on the ground next to his badly wounded wife.

When he jumped down, she gave him a tired smile. "It's okay. He was under an enchantment."

Laxus bent down and picked up the shards of the broken necklace. "So this was the reason…Did you really defeat Gajeel?!"

"Not really. I just helped him a little."

He whistled, and Gray came. Orders were given, and Gray dragged Gajeel's limp, heavy body toward the camp.

Laxus swooped Lucy up off the ground and the next thing Lucy knew, she _was_ lighting, which was scary beyond scary, but then they were in the medic's tent at the camp and Wendy and Mira took her and began tending to her wounds immediately.

Mirajane offered her a cup with a green liquid in it. "Take this, it'll help you feel better."

Her husband knew what Mira was doing, but he didn't interrupt and watched as Lucy guzzled the substance and then lost consciousness immediately. Judging from her wounds, he knew she must have been in a great deal of pain, and being unconscious was a great way to handle that.

Wendy said, "Two of the princess' ribs are broken. She has many small abrasions. We will heal her rib magically, and there are too many smaller wounds for me to focus on to heal them all. They'll have to heal mostly on their own."

She peeled Lucy's eyelid back. "She's also concussed, and may have sprained her ankle."

Laxus knew she was a powerful wizard, but to tussle with Gajeel and only have those injuries was a statement that she was far more powerful than he thought.

Since they needed to undress her to clean her cut-up skin and get her changed, they moved Lucy to Laxus' tent and Wendy stayed with her there, carefully washing her hair in a bowl and then her body. Then she rubbed disinfectant and healing salve all over Lucy's skin her before laying her on a clean sheet in one of Laxus' clean shirts.

Laxus watched quietly as the little girl worked, knowing she was only four years older than Mavis. He knew she'd seen hell and then some things that were worse than hell, but like Mavis, she always seemed optimistic. Wendy was helpful and loving, but she'd been forced to grow up too fast. She served with them because she was a young dragonslayer and she needed to protect as much as she needed to be protected.

Knowing Lucy was going to be out for a while, he washed the battle off of himself and tended to the matters at hand: wounded on both sides, captured enemy soldiers, and plans to advance farther northward.

Getting Gajeel out of Alvarez' hands and back into theirs was an enormous boon that forced Zeref to either send in bigger guns which would leave his home turf unprotected or send in conventional military reinforcements, which was always a bad idea.

Natsu could eliminate _thousands_ of conventional soldiers in about thirty seconds, and with Gajeel and himself, even Zeref knew not to do anything that stupid.

Laxus laid down next to Lucy as she slept and watched her in complete adoration. He really didn't know if anyone so incredible had ever existed, and then he wondered if that was the ignorance-inducing haze of love. Even if it was, he didn't mind. He'd rather be ignorant and happy then keen and miserable any day of the week.

Laxus listened as another storm moved over them, issuing violent thunder and bright flashes of lightning that illuminated the tent in strobe fashion as the sun went down. They needed to move northward, but it could wait until morning. He knew the enemy was scattering and wanted to cause them further disruption, so he instructed the three Exceeds to take Natsu, Gray, and Erza and drop them in the middle, and then the Raijinshuu went to meet from behind, essentially trapping some of the enemy forces between Team Natsu and the Raijinshuu.

The goal in Caelum was to convince Zeref that it wasn't worth his time. Most importantly, they wanted to curb the aggression before Zeref reached any of the more populated cities, as he had a bad record of raze and execute operations.

Zeref was proving to be a growing problem, and Laxus suspected the marriage between Irene Balserion and King Sawarr might end with Zeref in control of Brago, Fiore's eastern neighbor. That meant they'd have Alvarez on two borders, and according to his grandfather, Fiore had _something_ that Zeref wanted although he refused to name what it was.

Regardless, he was more than pleased with the day's outcome. They'd regained Gajeel, and captured Cobra and several others. Lack of a dragonslayer spelled problems for any force hoping to fight against an abundance of dragon magic. He felt like Cobra might be one they could use eventually, but he wasn't sure.

Maybe it wouldn't take so long, and they could go home...

As he lay there watching his new little wife sleep, he found himself looking forward to things that weren't fighting and drinking. He wanted to have breakfast with his wife and daughter, and finally be able to spend time with Mavis.

He wanted to hug his daughter. He'd lost the nerve to do it at the orchard, but he'd wanted to just hold her forever for years and hadn't been able to. The last time she was in his arms, she was a newborn and he'd been so afraid of her.

XXX

 **Eight Years Ago**

Makarov hadn't seen his grandson in almost a year, except when visiting the troops, at which point the boy acted like a stranger. He wasn't sure if he blamed him or not; Laxus left home after a violent altercation with Ivan which ended with Ivan choking Laxus and trying to take away his dragon lacrima. The situation became so desperate Laxus nearly electrocuted him to death just to get away.

The old man couldn't get any clear answers, and Ivan denied it as much as he denied everything else.

Laxus didn't argue.

He just left.

He joined the military, which was fine. Most of the male members of their family were also soldiers, including Makarov himself. Ivan was an exception to that rule because he was a coward, although he'd say it was because his life was just worth too much.

Laxus didn't live a life like that. He'd always been a good prince; he was noble, smart, and he studied hard. As a boy, his father despised him for being weak, but then when he became strong, Ivan hated him for that too. Laxus was young, handsome, and very well liked by public, while his father had always struck a sour note with the population of Fiore.

In the military, his grandson had soared with such great success as part of General Gildarts' elite magic squad.

Makarov wrote him letters. He never wrote back.

He'd been gone for almost a year straight, and Makarov decided not to bother him. He knew Laxus would come around again, probably when he needed his grandfather or when he wasn't hurt anymore.

He was surprised that night when he awoke to the crack of his window lock as it broke, followed by a creak and a thud. Makarov was prepared to fight until he saw his grandson standing there shirtless looking like a complete mess.

There was something wrapped up in his military shirt and jacket, but Laxus always brought home injured animals.

Makarov turned on the light next to his bed. "Laxus, what's wrong? You live here. You don't have to break in."

The bundle made a high-pitched noise. "...is that a cat?"

The seventeen-year-old seemed almost incapable of speaking at first. "...Baby."

Makarov jumped out of the bed in his nightshirt in a panic. It was more than ten degrees below zero outside and whatever Laxus had seemed infinitely too small to be a baby person, but when he took the bundled up shirt, he found a wet baby still covered in blood and fluid with part of her umbilical cord still attached as far as where it had been burned off.

The king had at least a thousand questions, but all of them had to wait. "Get Porlyusica, now!"

The king took the baby close to the fireplace and, using magic, ignited a fresh blaze where the flames had died down. She was still wet, so Makarov knew she hadn't been out of the womb very long, and the only way Laxus could have made it from where he was stationed to the castle was by lightning form. He made a mental note to bust him upside the head for subjecting a newborn to lightning form once the situation calmed down.

Makarov got a fluffy towel from his bathroom and untangled the baby from the shirt, laying her gently on the towel near the fire. It was a tiny little girl, and as she breathed the warmer air, she was able to start crying.

"It's okay, little one. We have the best doctor in all of Fiore. Hang on, okay?"

He'd just received news before bed that one of the border towns had been absolutely devastated, so he assumed that somehow or another, Laxus had crossed paths with this tiny little baby and hadn't had the heart to let her die.

He was a good man, not like his father at all.

Porlyusica still looked half-asleep when she entered his bedroom ten minutes later, and Laxus was carrying her big bag. She would generally complain and give these two particular men a great deal of grief for waking her up, but Laxus said he'd brought home a baby.

She remembered when he was little and he'd bring her baby birds that had fallen from their nest and little kittens abandoned by their mothers. The only reason she'd suffered him back then was because he had a good heart and she wanted to keep it that way. Like Makarov, she just assumed it was one of those cases.

The old doctor went to work, examining the baby. The baby was very premature, judging from her size and the fact she was suffering from respiratory problems. Laxus sat down on the floor next to his grandfather's bed and leaned against it, waiting anxiously.

She looked up and asked, "Do you know anything about this baby? Where's her mother?"

"Dead. She had it right before she died. I found it on the ground. I didn't know what to do with...whatever the fuck that is."

Porlyusica looked at what he'd pointed at and said, "It's her umbilical cord."

As soon as the baby had thoroughly warmed up and the doctor suctioned all the fluid left in her nose, she was able to cough a little and pick up a fairly steady rate of breathing.

Porlyusica swaddled her carefully in a soft blanket and let Makarov hold her while she prepared and warmed a bottle. "If she can eat and breathe, I think she'll be okay. Do you by any chance know how far along the mother was?"

"She was due on February 11th," Laxus answered in a shaky voice.

It was the fact that Laxus knew the mother's due date that caused Makarov's stomach to drop.

The king turned to his grandson and asked, "Laxus?"

The young prince felt a lump in his throat when he tried to speak, but finally, he managed to say, "All I had to do when I found her was walk away and the problem would go away, but I couldn't. She was crying. She was cold."

The king asked, "Laxus, who is the father of this baby?"

"I am," he whispered quietly.

Laxus was a good prince. He loved his country, he served dutifully, and Makarov hadn't heard any stories about him misbehaving. He certainly hadn't heard about Laxus being involved with any woman because he would have put a stop to it immediately. But somewhere along the way, he'd obviously crossed paths with a woman and made some big mistakes, the most significant of which in Porlyusica's arms at that moment.

The doctor sat down in a chair closest to the fireplace and the king sat down next to his grandson on the floor.

Makarov asked, "Are you okay?"

Laxus was shaking when he shook his head.

"What happened?"

The prince chewed on his bottom lip anxiously while he tried to find a way to explain what the last few months of this life had been like. "I met a girl. She was pretty. Nice. Her dad was the mayor of Morton. She was a model. Jenny Realight."

"Miss Fiore?"

He nodded and looked up at his grandfather, the only person he felt like he could ever trust. "She said a lot of stuff, Gramps. And then I realized she didn't give a shit about me. She just wanted to be queen. I told her to fuck off, she told me she was pregnant. It was just one time, I swear..."

Makarov could hear the pain in his voice and knew his grandson had been through hell because of this girl. Laxus watched what he believed to be his father killing his mother at the age of three and had never known the love of any other woman. He believed it was probably easy for a pretty girl to capture him in her web, especially after he'd run away from home like he did.

His grandson said, "I begged her to get rid of it. She refused, but not because she wanted it. She demanded I marry her, and then when I wouldn't, she blackmailed me instead. I kept hoping she'd miscarry, but her belly just kept getting bigger and bigger. We had a lot of fights about it. And then tonight when I heard Morton had been destroyed, I went to see. I honestly hoped she'd died, Gramps, and I guess that makes me a really shitty person."

Makarov said, "I think sometimes people get hurt so badly that the thing they want most is to never have to face the source of that hurt again."

The teenager wasn't really sure if he was acting out of hurt or not.

His grandfather asked, "Jenny was dead when you found her?"

"A bullet was in her thigh. She bled out. _It_ was on the ground."

The old man was quiet for a long time while he considered everything. By all means, it was against the law for Laxus to have an illegitimate child, and it was something that would cost him his place in line for the throne _if the public found out_.

Laxus clearly wasn't in any way prepared for fatherhood and didn't seem to want to raise the baby, and considering the circumstances, Makarov didn't really blame him. It was a twisted, convoluted mess and Laxus already had a laundry list of emotional problems from his father. Yet, he clearly had some kind of love for the baby as he'd not only saved her but brought her to the palace to get the help she needed to survive.

Besides, Makarov wasn't comfortable with Ivan being king and if he ever had the chance, he planned on moving him out of line so Laxus could take his place someday. The baby was an impediment to all that.

"What do you want to do, Laxus?" he asked.

The teenager asked, "What are my options? I already know I'm fucked. I had a kid out of wedlock. I don't care about being king or whatever. I'm in the military, and that's fine and good to me."

There was a part of him that was almost relieved to have an excuse to take a step away from the future he'd never had much choice in.

Makarov said, "You want to raise her?"

"I don't know how to be a dad."

The old man said, "She cried, so you picked her up. She was cold, so you took off your own clothes to warm her. She was sick, and you brought her to a doctor. That's a good start. If you choose that route, I think you'll probably live a happier life. Have a career, and a daughter, maybe a wife later on."

That sounded absolutely wretched to Laxus for the most part. "There's another route?"

"We keep her a secret. I'll make sure she's safe, and in good hands. You do well in life. Become king. I need you in that position. Fiore needs you in that position."

They had a long pragmatic discussion about life and plans and both fearful and woefully unprepared for fatherhood, Laxus made a decision he'd go on to regret for the next eight years of his life. They stood from the floor, and Laxus let out a long breath he felt like he'd been holding all night.

The king took the baby from Porlyusica, brought her close to him and said, "One final order of business. You're her father. You have to give her a name, even if it's not your name."

Laxus looked down at her now that she was clean and found she was actually an amazing creature. He could have sat there and stared at her all night, but then he'd either have to cry or change his mind.

He had no idea what to name her, but suddenly, he remembered a story his mother used to read to him about a fairy who was left alone in the human world by her parents so she could help people.

"Mavis."

Makarov nodded. "That's a nice name."

Porlyusica agreed to raise Mavis after a heartfelt plea from the king who didn't trust anyone else to do it, and Laxus agreed to stay on his career path as the future king of Fiore.

But from that night forward, he became disruptive, developed a drinking problem, and even while his triumphs on the battlefield stacked up, settled into a state of misery that was only thinly-veiled by military success and alcohol.

When Laxus reached the age of twenty-one, he came home again for the first time since that night, responding to a personal summons from his grandfather.

As soon as he got around the palace, he picked up the scent of that little bundle he'd brought home.

Laxus tried hard not to think about the baby, but sometimes, he did anyway. In his mind, she was still a tiny little infant, although years had passed so he assumed she'd grown. He didn't know anything about child development, but recently (and for no reason at all, he told himself), he'd picked up a book in a bookstore that said a child the age she was would be walking and talking and doing all sorts of things.

He was crossing the garden toward the apartment his grandfather prepared for him that he'd never slept in when he smelled her scent a little more strongly.

His curiosity got the better of him and he decided he wanted to see what she looked like at least.

She peeked at him from behind a tree, and when he turned, she hid again.

"Come out, will you?"

The four-year-old stepped out, and looked up at him. She was wearing a plain dress, something one would expect from a servants' daughter, and she was barefoot. She had tons of blonde hair that was very long and her eyes had turned a bright green color at some point.

The little girl asked, "Hello, Mister."

"Hello," he said, feeling a little dumb about the fact he wasn't really sure what else to say. He'd wanted to _see_ her; he didn't know she was going to talk to him.

Mavis asked, "Are you a giant?"

He couldn't help but grin a little at this question. "Of course not. Are you a giant?"

"I'm obviously a little girl."

"I'm obviously not a giant."

She stared at him as if studying him, and then said, "That's what a giant would say."

Laxus knelt and asked her, "Why would I lie about being a giant?"

Mavis said, "Because you don't want to tell me where your magic beanstalk is."

"So, you've decided first that I am a giant. And second, that I'm lying about whether or not I'm a giant because I want to keep my magic beanstalk a secret."

The girl nodded. "That's right."

The prince saw how beautiful and smart and bright she was and told himself he'd made the right choice. But then he asked, "And why do you want to know where my magic beanstalk is?"

Mavis said, "My parents are in heaven. If I have a magic beanstalk, I can climb up and meet them."

It was like being punched in the stomach with no warning.

Laxus had never considered that at some point, that little girl was going to ask where he was. They'd evidently told her that her father was dead.

He looked down at her feet. "Why aren't you wearing any shoes?"

"My shoes were getting too small."

"You only have one pair?"

Mavis said, "I'm okay, really."

Porlyusica suddenly interrupted them. "Mavis! Come here and-"

The old woman froze when she saw that Mavis had come into contact with her father for the first time since the night she was born. "Mavis, head back to the house. It's not appropriate for you to bother the prince."

"You're the prince?! The prince is a giant!"

"Mavis! Enough. Now go."

The little girl didn't really want to leave him and she didn't know why, but she was obedient and ran along. Her father watched until she disappeared into the house, and then stood.

Laxus dug into his pockets and grabbed one of her hands, stuffing it with money. "Go buy her goddamned shoes. I don't want to see her barefoot again."

"I'll tell you the same thing I tell your grandfather. The decision was made to raise her as a servant under the care of this house. If you start showing her favor, people are going to ask questions. _She_ is going to ask questions. Unless you're ready to explain to her why you left her, I suggest you remain distant. Nothing good will come of you being around her. You will hurt her, and you will hurt yourself," the woman warned.

"Just get her some shoes," he snapped.

He felt sick to his stomach and anxious as he made his way inside and found the nature of this meeting was to introduce him to some girl. She was beautiful, a princess from some other land.

Makarov thought their meeting was going well because Laxus wasn't misbehaving as had become his custom.

But then Laxus snapped back to reality and after a slew of amazingly sharp insults, indicating he'd die before he wasted time on 'such an ignorant, flimsy sad excuse for a woman' and stormed out, only to run into is father in the hallway.

They hadn't seen one another in five years, and all Laxus said was, "Fuck off, deadbeat."

To which Ivan replied, "Do you really think you're better than me? There's a little girl I speak to often whose father abandoned her at birth. At least I'm not that bad."

The dragonslayer snarled, tackled him, and hit him over and over again until Makarov broke them up.

Laxus continued his angry streak through the halls and slammed the door to his apartment, only to be followed by his grandfather.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed when Makarov came in.

"You saw her, didn't you?"

Laxus nodded. "I made a mistake."

"Coming here?"

"That night."

His grandfather said, "If you want to change your mind, I won't stop you. The consequences haven't changed."

Makarov loved the bright little blonde too, and if it was a painful issue for him, he assumed it was infinitely worse for Laxus. He'd been caught up in an emotional storm on that night and Makarov suspected the reason Laxus had _never_ come home since then was because it still raged on inside of him.

Looking at him now, he knew Mavis was the source of his wildly disruptive lifestyle, his binge drinking, his pointless partying and fighting.

And Laxus realized how absurd it really was. He still didn't know how to be a father, and he felt like he was already really bad at it. "Nevermind. It's fine. I'm going back to the front in the morning."

Makarov nodded in understanding. "Have some hope. You never know what life is going to bring you."

"Whatever."

He left but started to showed up three weeks later for a political meeting he would have otherwise ignored.

When Laxus found Mavis, she was helping Porlyusica gather herbs in a little fenced-in patch near the healer's house, but when she went inside briefly, Mavis quietly slid through the bars of the fence and made her way to him.

"Prince Giant, you're back!"

"Little Girl, I have something for you."

Laxus gave her a little leather pouch that had a single seed it it. It was a seed for the fastest growing tree in the world, and while not a magic beanstalk, it made her happy to think it was. "You'll have to wait for it to get big, and until then, you should just be happy and not worry a lot about meeting your parents. I'm sure they'd want that too."

Mavis clenched the little seed in her hand. "You think so?"

"I think every parent just wants their kid to be happy."

"How do you know? Are you a dad?"

Laxus shook his head. "Oy, Little Girl, why are you barefoot?"

He was planning on giving Porlyusica a piece of his mind until she said, "Because I hate wearing shoes."

"I thought you outgrew your shoes."

She smiled and answered, "I didn't wear them when they fit, just like my new ones."

They planted the seed together in the garden in a place of her choosing and from then on, they carried mostly in secret a rich relationship where he would do as much as he could get away with. She loved him, looked up to him, waited for him to come around, and he visited often, always bringing little gifts for her and making her feel at least a little special for a small amount of time before he vanished again.

XXX

The eight-year-old girl looked from up the tree to its branches high above. She was old enough and smart enough to know their tree was not a magic beanstalk. It was a Royal Empress tree, yet somehow, she'd gotten her wish. She believed the magic seed would bring her closer to having meeting her parents, and just like he'd promised, now that it was tall, she'd finally gotten to meet them.

Makarov approached her and said, "Are you ready for breakfast?"

"Yes, Gramps!"

He looked up. "I always wonder where the hell this thing came from. I feel like it gets ten feet taller every time I look around."

"That's because it's magical," she replied.

Makarov was infinitely grateful to Lucy for her grace toward the Mavis situation. Laxus' heart wasn't the only one that ached over Mavis. Regardless of the circumstances of her birth, she was still his great-granddaughter and he'd had a mind to spoil her senselessly rotten since she was born.

The little blue messenger bird flew through the window, and Mavis let it land on the edge of her plate after she took the envelope. The bird accepted the corner of toast she offered and nibbled while Mavis opened the letter.

"It's from the princess!"

There were those in the castle, especially servants she used to work with who were a envious of her, who had whispered around her that her new mom wasn't really that interested in her, but every day she had a letter from Lucy and it made her happy.

She read it, eyes widening with excitement.

"What's going on with those two?"

Mavis excitedly said, "Lucy got into a battle with Gajeel Redfox and won!"

Makarov spit his coffee all over the table. "WHAT?!"

The princess was supposed to be traveling near the prince, but not into danger, and only for the purposes of getting pregnant. When Mavis got up from the table to chase her pet pig through the penthouse, Makarov read the letter and was thoroughly infuriated as he realized they weren't trying to make a baby. They were trying to make war with Alvarez, which was exactly the reason they needed to make a baby in the first place.

Fighting with Gajeel inevitably meant injuries inside and out, and he was more than a little pissed at his grandson for taking her into harm's way and wondered if that was the secret contract of their marriage.

He finished his breakfast and started packing.

"Where are you going, Gramps?"

"To visit the battlefront. I'm going to beat the shit out of your dad, but I won't kill him. Letting her fight Gajeel...that little bastard has some real nerve..."

Mavis worriedly said, "Why?"

The king answered, "This time next year, I want you to have a little brother. I don't think they're making an effort to make that happen." When he remembered her age, he said, "They're not trying hard enough to make the stork come."

"Gramps, I'm eight, I'm curious, and I know how to use the library. I know where babies come from," she matter-of-factly replied.

"They're the prince and princess. The most important duty they have is to do the things you read about in the library in books I'm certainly going to get rid of as soon as I get back!"

The little girl asked, "Is it safe for you to go too?"

"If I die, please remember it's your father's fault."

When he heard her quietly giggle, he asked, "WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK IT'S FUNNY WHEN I'M PISSED?"

If there was ever a shred of doubt about whether or not she was the spawn of his grandson, she did a fine job of enjoying his rage, a favorite pastime of her father's.

Many, many miles away, Laxus was woke up, stretched, and yawned. His beautiful bride was still healing a bit, but she still looked so cute to him as she slept. She was an amazingly tough woman, and one he respected greatly. Everyone did after what she did for Gajeel, especially Levy and Juvia, although Juvia had somehow gotten the newlywed confused with a 'love rival.'

Laxus didn't even trifle with that particular kind of crazy.

Lucy opened her eyes and reached for his warmth, and he laid back down so she could snuggle back against him. When she was fully cognizant, she would complain to the ends of the earth that he was clingy, but half-asleep, she was quite a snuggler and would moan inaudible complaints whenever his warmth left her.

She rested against him for a while, and said, "What's on your mind this morning?"

"I have the strangest feeling, like Gramps is pissed at me for some reason. I don't know why, but it amuses the hell out of me when he's angry. All that rage in that tiny little body. How can I not be amused?"

"You should stop giving him grief. He's old."

The dragonslayer sighed. "Maybe. I have you to annoy now and you're ten times cuter when you're pissed and it's five times easier to get you that way."

"Have you ever considered not being an idiot?"

"Never. I mean, I already have a job I can't really lose and a woman who can't leave me, so why bother at this point?"

Lucy said, "I feel like you just need to be trained, like a puppy, and you'll be alright."

His response to this was to growl and bite down on her shoulder.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

The prince answered, "I don't know. But all this is making me want to get myself into _you_."

The blonde sat up and teased, "Sorry, we don't have three hours in our schedule for you to sleep off an orgasm."

"Keep talking. Tonight is going to come in approximately twelve hours and I'm going to do all kinds of things to you."

"And then you're going to pass out like I bashed you in the head with a club."

"Is that a bad plan or something?"

 _ **Please Review!**_

 _ **Special thanks to MegumiYoung, Guest, kayLucyLover, Edelweisswhitetiger, TC, saskiarosee, Jozanimelover, aviend, kurahieiritr JIO, Lady Allyssa, Cato Yugi, yumeyumi1986, guest, kpanda100, westerngoddess, lunastarlady, killer-kelly420, cosmo333, and deltacaraman for reviewing!**_


	7. A Big Ginger and a Less Big Dragon

For four weeks, Lucy fought side-by-side with Natsu's team under Laxus' leadership as they carved a warpath through Caelum. They came across tragedies by the day where unspeakable things had happened to the locals as the Alvarez army passed through, and it only hardened everyone's resolve.

Laxus was so happy he found it hard to believe he was in a state of bliss _and_ at war, all at once.

Lucy laughed at how deeply he slept, but it wasn't a laughing matter to him. After he'd found out he was going to become a father as a teenager, he'd struggled with intense insomnia. It got a lot worse after Mavis was born and his nights were haunted by memories of a tiny little cry he hadn't answered properly as a father.

He didn't even know how many countless hours he'd spent wishing he could sleep. The problem was remedied by alcohol and a lot of pills and eventually potions. When he did finally succumb to exhaustion, his sleep was of the lowest, most worthless quality and he'd wake up still exhausted.

Suddenly, _Lucy_.

Laxus didn't have anything to keep him worried at night because that little girl was in the best of care and soon, she'd be in his care thanks to his new wife. Lucy and Mavis still wrote to each other every day, which demonstrated his wife's determination to not only let Mavis stay with them, but to love her.

Even in his crazier dreams, he wanted to be able to be a father to her. He hadn't really ever imagined he'd ever be able to provide her with a mother as well. And he wondered, if they loved her enough from that point on, if it made up for the years she'd been alone.

He looked over at Lucy as she slept peacefully next to him. It was early in the morning, and time to wake up and get ready for another day of fighting. They'd made good progress, and she was a great asset, with, he reminded himself as his slid over her derriere, a great ass.

With a kiss, she awoke, but her eyes stayed closed as she reached up for him.

Nobody told her love was going to be so incredible.

Suddenly, he became stiff, and not in the way she was accustomed to. He shot up, suddenly wide awake, and seemed immediately panicked.

"What's wrong?"

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck…"

"Laxus, what's happening?"

In an instant, he was frantic. "Get dressed!"

"Is something bad about to happen?"

"Only to me," he cryptically answered as he stood and went about looking for his clothes like he was crazed. He got dressed, and seemed to be in a deep state of frantic thought.

Lucy did as instructed, and as she dressed, she felt an extremely powerful magical presence nearing them at superhuman speed. Fearing an attack, she reached for her keys, and as soon as she pulled her camouflage pants and white tank on, Laxus left the tent after taking a deep breath and preparing himself for incoming wrath.

Lucy followed him out. "What's wrong, Laxus?"

Her husband suddenly went flying as the magic presence suddenly arrived there with a streak and a distinct _crash_. With a single punch to the chin, Laxus was thrown back almost twenty feet. He landed gracelessly on his face in the mud, and Lucy looked around the camp to see that none of the soldiers who were awake were preparing to fight. They were stiff, and fearful, like Laxus.

A tall, red-headed older man stood before them in a cape.

She recognized him from a painting in the castle once he stepped out from under the shadow of a tree into the pale pink dawn light. "General Gildarts?"

He gave her a friendly grin and bowed respectfully, kissing her hand as a gesture of servitude. "Hello, Princess Lucy. I'm pleased to meet you. I'm at your service whenever you may have a need. My apologies for punching your husband, but the king asked me to."

Laxus wiped off his face and sat on the ground for a minute, reflecting on exactly how screwed he was.

As far as matters of state were concerned, Ivan's abdication and banishment to Brago several weeks before meant the only person with more power than him was Makarov. But as far as the military was concerned, there was one higher than him, and that was General Gildarts Clive.

Gildarts was the prior commander of Laxus' group and was responsible for shaping him into a good soldier. This involved beating him repeatedly over an extensive period of time until he learned the fundamentals of respect and discipline. When his predecessor Warrod Sequen retired and Makarov put Gildarts over all the armed forces, Gildarts appointed Laxus to his old post.

Laxus stood up and dusted himself off, wiping mud on his shirt. "General."

Gildarts said, "Effective immediately, I'm taking over this campaign at the orders of your grandfather due to the fact that recent strategy implemented under your leadership lead to the endangerment of an one of the most important assets of our country, the future queen. The king almost came here himself, but his top political adviser advised him against it."

Laxus asked, "Which adviser? I don't remember Gramps having a political adviser."

"The little one. Blonde, about yea high, loves cheesecake and animals."

The sad thing was that Mavis was a genius and was probably more intelligent and insightful than the those who had actually been hired and inevitably fired from the king's advisory team.

Either way, it was not only infuriating, but also a bit humiliating.

"What does that mean?" Lucy boldly asked.

Laxus crossed his arms. "Lucy…"

Gildarts said, "You're both going home."

"But-"

Laxus shook his head once. "Princess, don't argue. We don't have a fight to win here."

Laxus knew Makarov was far beyond displeased with them if he pulled rank on him and demanded his return home. There was no arguing with Gildarts, and Laxus knew better than to try and dissuade him. Gildarts wasn't doing anything Makarov didn't tell him to do, and the prince knew it.

When Laxus went into the tent, she followed after him, _furiously._

"What is this? You're just going to quit and go home?!" she yelled.

The prince said, "He's my commanding officer, and he can kick my ass. Whatever he says comes straight out of Gramps' mouth."

He was disappointed, because he was truly enjoying their violent little honeymoon of battles all day and sex all night.

Even though he knew she was angry and disappointed, he really didn't know what to say to her about it.

"What about everything we've been doing?!"

"Gildarts will take it from here," he quietly said as he started packing. "Let's get ready."

Lucy fisted her hands. "I'm not going _anywhere_. This is ridiculous, Laxus."

"We're leaving."

"Then you leave. Gildarts isn't my commander," she stubbornly answered.

Her husband looked up. "The hell I will. Don't be like this. I don't want to fight with you about this and I'm definitely not leaving you here."

"It's not your country, is it?"

He tried his hardest to stay calm, but they both had short tempers. "Mind your volume. People outside the tent can hear when you yell."

"I'll yell if I want, you big jerk!"

Gildarts reviewed maps and documents, shaking his head as he heard an explosive argument erupt from inside of the tent. As far as he could tell, there was nothing wrong with them except they were young and well...just young, really.

Lucy didn't come from a military background, and Gildarts knew as a princess, she'd resisted the authority of her father to the point of running away. She was a fierce woman, but she was young and quick to anger and so was he.

Gildarts ordered everyone to start packing up and getting ready to move as they were mostly standing around listening to the prince and his bride shout and insult each other.

The princess stormed out, angry and crying that she was being sent home to play princess after having an opportunity to be more. Laxus followed after her for only a few steps, then turned and glared at the old general as if to say 'This is your fault.'

For a second, she'd felt free, and now she felt caged again.

She ran off into the woods toward a nearby river, and he was so pissed he did little more than glare at her and then go back in the tent to finish packing. The dragonslayer wasn't sure if he was happy or sad that she had no real choice but to go with him. Fight or no, if Makarov told them to come home, that's what would happen.

And as Lucy made her way through the trees, she knew too. Their marriage was new, they had no children, and if she didn't act like a good wife, any number of things might happen. She doubted Laxus would turn on her, but she didn't want to be on Makarov's bad side either. Makarov was a good man and she really liked him, and she could understand why he was upset. She didn't want to force his hand, but she didn't want to go home either.

When a twig snapped behind her, she turned to see General Gildarts, who was watching her with a concerned expression.

Lucy wiped her face with her hands and sniffled. "You might run Laxus, but you don't run me."

His expression softened. "Can I speak to you frankly?"

"O-Okay."

Gildarts reached into his cape and she noticed for the first time he was missing and arm, and a leg, and his torso was wrapped in bandages. She didn't mean to stare, but he caught her quick glance and took his cape off, baring his broken body fully to her. "Take a good look. I understand you're young and you're full of passion and anger, but battles are dangerous. You never know how close you really are to disaster...maybe one bad judgement call or a little bad luck."

"Some risks are worth it," she answered.

"I'm sure a brave girl who loves her country would rather fight, and I get that because I'm a fighter too. And if you were just here fighting for your country, that would be your choice. But you're young and you can't see what's really at stake here."

Lucy was never a fool, and she always tried to listen and make informed decisions. "What don't I see, General?"

He said, "On this continent, there are eight families that produce extremely powerful wizards. Since the feudal era ended and proper states formed, these families have kept each other in check. The Dreyar and Heartfilia lines account for two of the most powerful. The world will go to hell if two of those lines end, which is what is scheduled to happen right now. Zeref knows that too, so guess who his top target is going to be?"

"I can stand up for myself."

"But can you stand up for Caelum and Fiore? Because what you want to do is fight because it feels right, but you're not thinking about what happens if you die. You're a smart girl, so you know what happens to countries when a monarchy falls. Maybe it'll be civil war. Maybe Caelum will be split up among neighboring countries. That goes for Fiore too. The King's got a bad heart and the prince likes to flirt with death," Gildarts explained.

Lucy knew what he said was correct, but it was still hard to accept. "Since I was a little girl, I've been shaped and groomed and taught that the most important thing I can ever do is be a mother. There was never any other choice for me."

The general leaned against a tree and said, "You were a runaway, right? That was your other choice. You came back and you came to Fiore. You made a deal with Makarov. These people you think are your friends are going to fight and bleed and be hurt. Some of them might even die. I think you wouldn't have any problem giving your life for Caelum, but this situation requires a life, not a death. The king sympathizes. You're barely old enough to be considered an adult, and you're young to be married."

"I'm not a kid, General."

"The king wanted me to gently remind you that you made a deal with him to produce an heir. He's not making any kind of threat and the deals with Caelum aren't in jeopardy, but keep in mind he has some of his best soldiers spilling blood on foreign soil because of the bond between Caelum and Fiore. He made a choice he's willing to lose some soldiers to secure an heir."

The blonde angrily said, "That's a terrible way to put it! Nobody here is going to die."

"It's very likely at least one person you see every day is not going to survive. It's for the future of your country. You have to do what you need to do for the future of ours."

Gildarts hated to be the one to be in the middle of all this, and he definitely didn't want to deliver this lecture to the princess.

The princess calmed down quite a lot, but she couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face.

The general said, "Makarov says Laxus loves you to death and will probably just go along with whatever you desire because he's never really been loved before. Don't make it hard on him. He's a strong person but you're right in his weak spot. And don't ever raise your voice at him in front of other people. That's just not appropriate behavior and it'll cause people to think poorly of you. The future queen of Fiore can't throw temper tantrums and scream at her husband."

She nodded in understanding and cleaned up her face a bit, took a deep breath, and tried to mentally refresh herself.

The general was satisfied he'd gotten his point across when she attempted to regain her composure. "I'm really glad the prince finally found someone who can make him happy. Makarov is too. We've been worried about the prince for a long time. He's been really lonely. He needs to get away from fighting for a while and just be happy with his wife. You'll both be better off, I promise."

She nodded in understanding. "Okay."

Lucy accepted her defeat and disappointment with as much grace as she could and after calming down, spent a few minutes alone next to the river while Gildarts left to find her husband and give him a different but equally important lecture.

According to Makarov, they both had a number of parental issues, so it wasn't too surprisingly they'd be reluctant or fearful to become parents. They both watched their mothers die and had according to Makarov, Jude was only a little less terrible than Ivan when it came to parenting. Asking two people in that situation to make a baby obviously posed a lot of questions and problems for both.

The king believed that with a little gentle guidance, they might feel safe and comfortable enough to perform their duties appropriately.

Laxus was in the tent, folding and packing their clothes and when Gildarts entered the tent, he glared and then looked back down at what he was doing.

Gildarts sat on the floor of the tent and said, "Your grandfather told me about Mavis. I had no idea she was your kid. I always see her around. She's cute."

"That's kind of the purpose of a secret."

The older man said, "You could have told me back then we were right there together at the border. I would have helped you. Was her mother that spoiled brat I told you to stay away from?"

He nodded once.

"I told you she was trouble."

Laxus sighed. "I obviously didn't listen."

Gildarts watched him and remembered back to when he'd first shown up in his unit. He'd taken to military life, because he was more wild than fancy, but he always had somewhat of a neat side as well. His belongings were always in order, his bunk was neatly made, and as reckless as he was in his personal life, he was precise in battle.

The general said, "You and Lucy need to have a baby, Laxus."

"So that's what this is about? Honestly, Gramps is the worst. She's seventeen. He could let her live a little."

Gildarts replied, "I'm not really one to speak on this subject from my own experiences, but it would be different, you know. I'm sure having a baby with someone you're madly in love with is going to be a great experience for both of you. You probably feel a certain kind of way about pregnancy."

Laxus finally looked up at him. "So Gramps called you to the palace and asked you to come here and take over and talk us into having a kid."

"That's pretty much how it went, yes. Because she's younger and not an asshole like you, you have to be the strong one. Make her feel safe and like it's going to be okay. Be happy about it. I can tell you're crazy about her. You have a family, Laxus. A wife, and a little girl too."

The dragonslayer repeated the words as if they were foreign. "A family…"

"I had a chance to have a family once and I really blew it. Trust me, I'd give anything to be in your place. Young, married, have a cute little fireball of a wife and the cutest little daughter. Gramps is just asking you to grow your family. You'll be excited once that kid is on the way, I promise. Your job is to make her feel safe and comfortable and confident in becoming a mother."

Gildarts wasn't someone he really wanted to talk to about really private things, but Laxus hadn't really considered that he had a proper family unit that was more or less ready to fall in place. He'd never imagined himself with a family, or being in love, or anything of that sort.

Laxus felt immeasurably fortunate when he considered this and when Gildarts left, he started to imagine different scenarios.

By the time she went back to their tent, Laxus had packed all their bags.

She didn't say anything, and instead she just approached him and wrapped her arms around him tightly, and he did the same.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded against his chest. "This isn't new for us, right? Duty first."

"We'll be alright."

Lucy rested against him for a long time, listening to his heartbeat.

Laxus looked down at her and knew that he had to be strong for her, as ferocious and powerful as she was.

He thought at first that letting her do what she wanted was the best way to support her, but that really didn't help them. They were duty-bound, and what they were doing was not only shirking those responsibilities, but endangering them.

The journey to the nearby town's train station was short, and Makarov had sent Gildarts on the king's private train to get them, although travel by train added a few days to the trip. There was a bath, a bedroom car, and a car with a dining and living area, along with one last car for the servant who was charged with their care.

Lucy was happy to see a bath, but otherwise infuriated, disappointed, and had fifteen other feelings she couldn't quite identify. She poured more bubble bath in than was necessary after she peeled her clothes off and examined her battle body. She had cuts, scrapes and bruises, and her hands were starting to develop calluses from climbing around the rocky hillside.

He knew he loved this side of her. He liked her in lingerie, in baggy army pants, in cute dresses...hair up, hair down, princess or warrior. However she came, he adored her.

Her husband took a hot shower in the bath car while his wife sat a few feet away under the bubbles with a despondent look on her face. She felt sad and happy at the same time, and found the realities of a royal marriage were sadly bittersweet.

When he got out, he was wrapping himself up in a towel when he caught a pair of brown eyes giving his body a thoroughly look. With a smirk, he took the towel off and asked, "See something you like, Princess?"

The blonde couldn't help it and broke out into giggles. "You're ridiculous."

He sat on the edge of the huge bathtub and was leaning over to kiss her when his foot slipped and he went face-first into the bathtub into her lap.

Lucy laughed as he was half in, half out of the bathtub. She saw his legs go over the edge and into the tub, and then his head popped up from the bubbles.

"Oops?" he said as his wife brushed bubbles out of his hair. "I'm not sure if I mind this though."

They shifted around a little to fit comfortably in the tub, and he finally pulled her onto his lap to straddle him. She wrapped her legs around him and he wrapped his arms around her.

Lucy put her hands on his shoulders. "Thanks for letting me do what I want for a little while at least."

"This is usually how it goes when one tries to outsmart Gramps," he said.

Lucy asked, "So we're going to have a baby…"

Laxus nodded once. "I've been wondering why you're so averse to the idea in the first place. We're young and somehow you like me. There are times when I think I want you to have my baby, so I wonder if you ever have thoughts like that too."

While he was shaping up to be an excellent husband, he wasn't really the best conversationalist and if he could keep it shallow, he did. It was an intimate question, and one only he could have asked.

"I think that's a normal feeling. Humans would have gone extinct if we didn't just feel that way. The 'you' part isn't the part I have a problem with. It's the 'me' part I have a problem with," she admitted.

The princess wondered if this had been on his mind all morning, or if he'd just accidentally fallen in the bathtub and decided to ponder on these things at that time.

Laxus listened and then asked, "Is it your age? You're seventeen, almost eighteen. It's young to be married. It's young to have a baby. But it's not scandalously young. Or is it the fact I'm older?"

"You're not that much older, and maturity wise...I think of myself as the grownup in this relationship. I mean, I feel like you gave that up when you named a pig after me," she replied.

Her husband shrugged. "That's fair. So what is it then?"

Lucy said, "My mom was my age when she had me, you know. She was a really good mother and I loved her so much. And then she died."

Laxus leaned his forehead against hers. "Lucy, you're not going to die. Not like your mother or mine. We're going to have a good family. You're going to get pregnant, and probably be really cute. It's going to be really exciting, and then we'll have a baby. We're already kind of a family if you think about it. You, and me, and Mavis."

When he said it like that, she felt like everything might actually be okay. Yet, she knew he had his hangups too, and was being strong for her. She was grateful for that, and brought a hand to his cheek. "Thank you."

He kissed her wet hair, and held her for a long time.

They didn't have sex, which was surprisingly to both as being naked in a bathtub seemed to be conducive to that end. They transitioned from fighter to royal mode and Lucy fixed her hair and put on a dress Makarov had someone send along for her.

She found Porlyusica sent along vitamins and teas to support her conception and pregnancy, and Lucy accepted them along with her fate.

Lucy settled into a big chair and watched the scenery go by while Everlue, the servant, and Virgo, his faithful spirit, prepared a meal for them. It was peaceful and quiet, with both of them both deep in thought and at rest for a while.

The food was excellent, the nap that followed was better, and they were both grateful to be on a proper bed again.

When she woke up from her nap, she crawled on top of him.

Laxus groggily opened his eyes. "What now?"

"Let's do this already."

XXX

It took a couple of weeks to get home, during which Lucy was out of contact with Mavis and it seemed to bother her. Yet it was a very relaxing time they spent snuggling, having sex, bickering, and watching the scenery go by.

Lucy was anxious about the situation at home, but her hands were more than tied and she couldn't do anything but hope Gildarts was doing well. Laxus assured her he was the master at what he did, and she chose to believe in the old general.

Upon their arrival home, they were surprised Laxus' apartment didn't exist anymore and was currently covered in chalk and dust as it was being converted into a room to house museum relics from their family.

Instead, Makarov had remodeled the penthouse with its very private but unspeakably beautiful rooftop garden that extended the entire length of the palace roof. It was enclosed entirely by tall hedges, and was even dotted with small trees with brightly-colored flowers and foliage. Exotic flowers and vines grew all over the place, in some places forming a canopy over the garden, lending a somewhat magical aura to the garden.

There was a large patch of carefully manicured green grass in the middle.

Their bedroom was clean and bright, with a wall of windows and a glass door to the most secluded of the world-famous Dreyar Palace Gardens. The rooftop garden was rarely photographed but was considered to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet. According to what Lucy read, Laxus' great-grandfather Yuri built all the palace gardens for his wife while she was pregnant with her child.

She died immediately after giving birth and never got to enjoy them.

The apartment was expansive, and Lucy explored it in awe.

Laxus thought their grandfather had given up his residence for them, but discovered a large bedroom full of his things that had materialized during the speedy remodel. He'd given up the King's Suite, but he clearly had every intention of living _with_ them rather than in another apartment somewhere else in the palace.

Makarov and Laxus were similar in that they didn't like servants in their personal living space, and the prince believed Lucy probably had similar sentiments. Inside of every humble royal was a slight humiliation at the attempts of servants to complete every basic task.

The door to the suite opened while they were exploring their living area and Mavis came in barefoot in a lace tea dress, bright-eyed and happy.

Laxus had never seen her look so filled with joy, and when she saw they were home, she lit up.

"Welcome home, Mom and Dad...is it okay for me to say that?" she said, seeming gleeful at first, then apprehensive.

It was weird the first time she said it, but Lucy nodded. "Of course."

Mavis felt a little uncomfortable and nervous, because as happy as she was they were home, she wasn't sure if it would be okay for her to run and hug them.

Her father knew from watching afar that Mavis hadn't experienced much affection. Porlyusica wasn't much of a nurturer and she hadn't had any other family.

Laxus bent down a little and grabbed her, squeezing her tightly as he lifted her off the ground.

God, he'd wanted to hold her for _years_.

And she'd wanted someone to hug her like that all her life. She couldn't describe in any words she knew (and she knew many) how she felt, so she started crying instead as her father hugged her and her bare feet dangled in the air.

Mavis had seen children with their parents all her life, but she'd never been able to know the innocent joy of having parents. She felt so safe, and so strong, and so indescribably happy to be able to call them her parents.

"You're a crybaby," he teased when he finally opened his eyes, only to see a tearful Lucy watched them cling to one another. "Both of you. Geeze."

Mavis said, "You're ruining our moment, _Dad_."

He put her on the ground and bent down. "We're a family now. We have as many moments as we want, and I'll ruin them all if I want," he teased.

Mavis was still bawling like a baby when Lucy took a couple of steps forward and knelt.

She imagined all adopting parents and children had difficult moments when it came to bonding. Even though she really didn't know how to be a mother yet, they was the role she was in and she wanted to be good to and for Mavis. It wasn't hard to see how precious and wonderful she really was, and they really did have a lot in common.

And more than anything, she remembered what it was like to be alone, to go _years_ without being held or loved, and feeling ignored and lonely. For a little girl, there was nothing more scary than feeling that way.

She hugged Mavis and the girl smiled against her shoulder.

Laxus watched this with fascination as he knew his bond to Mavis was by blood, but Lucy had chosen to love Mavis. He felt a warm sense of peace watching them together, both in that moment or when Mavis set out on following Lucy around the penthouse.

They unpacked together, and there was a constant chorus of chatter, about books, about magic, about their adventures, and about the aspects of being both a princess and a powerful warrior.

Laxus had not considered that as far as role models went, Lucy was incredible, capable of balancing duty and fighting and she was smart as hell just like Mavis. Most princesses were taught to be still, be quiet, and behave, but he knew Lucy wouldn't have it, not for herself and not for Mavis.

He was a little surprised that Mavis would be most interested in spending time with Lucy, but then again, they did have a lot in common and they were delightfully curious about each other. Laxus relaxed on the couch and listened to them during the afternoon while Lucy and Mavis laid in their bed and read from a novel they both loved, complete with dramatic voices and giggling.

They took a nap together, and late in the afternoon, Makarov finally came home from speaking to the legislative body and expected to find his grandson pissed off as hell. Instead, he found Laxus standing in the doorway to his bedroom, watching two blondes take an afternoon nap as they lay surrounded by the remains of their chaos: jelly beans and popcorn, a novel, and some magic books.

He hadn't ever felt so at peace in his life.

Makarov could see the difference in his grandson and was so happy for him. He'd loved Laxus since he heard the first cries from behind a closed door on the night he was born. "I made a poor judgment call. Lucy is a mighty woman and her first instinct is to fight. To allow her to go home was to invite the violence."

"It was shitty of you to pull rank and drop the big ginger hammer on me," he answered.

"You're not looking at the situation correctly, Laxus. Your marriage is too young. I think it's best for you to be here right now, strengthening yourself alongside your family. It wouldn't be good to separate you and Lucy, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be best to let Gildarts take over so you can be newlyweds together. Be a family," the old man said.

Laxus stepped away from the door and closed it gently. "Gramps…"

The two men stood there, suddenly on the other side of all the terrible things they'd endured together. Laxus could remember his grandfather holding him on the night his mother died and trying to encourage him to endure Ivan's constant emotional abuses. Makarov promised him he'd be big and strong someday, when he was really only tiny and scrawny and helplessly self-conscious.

Makarov knew his grandson, the disruptive, impenetrable, royal asshole was at a tender and wonderful moment of his life. Just like Laxus had waited, hoping to see his daughter happy, Makarov had always wanted to see Laxus happy.

It was a healing moment for them as a family, although neither one of them acknowledged it.

Makarov finally cracked a smile. "You two working on a baby?"

Laxus looked up and them almost bashfully looked away. "Gramps, that's an awkward thing to ask."

"You're at least getting it in, right?"

He glared.

"You're useless. If I could, I'd make a new son and start all over."

Laxus crossed his arms. "What's the saying? Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Good luck with Ivan Number Two."

"Are you blaming me?"

His grandson continued his unamused glower.

Laxus wanted to make a snarky comment about living in the same apartment with him, but his recent circumstances left him a little soft to his grandfather's vulnerabilities late in life. If the king loved his little princess of a great granddaughter and wanted to be close to them in his later years, he didn't really have a problem with it.

In the end, he could never repay his grandfather for all he had invested in him.

Makarov asked, "Lucy and Mavis are getting on well?"

He nodded. "They're just alike, you know."

"The citizens have fallen in love with their new princess. She's a cute little thing, and Fiorans are honestly tired of the royal family being an annoying bunch of cranky men. Mavis and Lucy are refreshing for our family. A couple of cute little brilliant blondes does wonders for our image."

"Was our image that bad?"

Makarov said, "Well, my mother died in childbirth, my wife divorced me, your mother died suspiciously, and thank God no one knows Mavis' mother bled to death on a freezing cold night after pushing out that poor baby."

"You make all that sound worse than it is."

"The people may like us, but it's not because we're likable."

Laxus said, "No one told me."

"You were probably drunk."

His grandson rolled his eyes.

The old man asked, "So back to my original question-can I expect a baby soon?"

"God, I hope not. It would be very strange to have a new auntie or uncle at this point."

Makarov's fist swelled with magic and he smashed his grandson atop the head. "You idiot!"

A tiny cute laugh was heard as Mavis peeked her head out of the bedroom door.

She was half-asleep when she came out with a yawn, but when she saw her new dad (or at least, new to her) and her grandfather, she beamed brightly at them and remembered how fortunate and happy she was.

"Dad! Let's do something together!"

"Oh? What do you want to do?"

Mavis practically pranced to him and grabbed his hand. "Let's go into town! There's this restaurant I've always wanted to eat at and I bet it's super delicious! And then we could walk along the river. Lucy would like it too!"

Laxus had been told on numerous occasions that he needed to go out into the public more often, which he neither enjoyed nor looked forward to. There were going to be pictures, and people writing in magazines and newspapers about what he was doing, but she wanted to go and he suddenly realized he had very little willpower to resist her gleeful whims.

He went in the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, nudging Lucy gently. "You want to go into town? Mavis wants to go out to eat."

Lucy groaned and shook her head. "My nap was going just fine until you came along…"

"You've been sleeping a lot for the past couple of days. Is it hibernation season for you?"

She gave him a cranky glare and pulled the covers over her head.

"Just because you can't see me doesn't mean I'm not here," he teased.

The blonde mumbled, "But it's easier for me to pretend. I'm going back to sleep, but you guys have fun."

He chuckled. "I'll bring you something."

In town, Laxus tried his hardest to ignore occasional camera flashes. It always disoriented him to transition from fighting to royal life. His reflexes as a soldier toward people looking at him, flashes of light, and unexpected noises and approaches were not acceptable at all when he was in the capital.

Mavis hugged on his arm as they walked through downtown, and he was surprised she was quite calm. It took most royal kids a lifetime to adjust to how much the citizens wanted to be in their business.

"Are you comfortable? With people looking, I mean."

Mavis nodded. "I'd rather people look at me when I'm out with my dad than ignore me because I don't have one."

He felt twisting discomfort at the remark, and when he saw her eyes catch on a green dress in a window, he asked, "You like it?"

"It's pretty."

"You want it?"

The blonde said, "You can't just give me everything I like. That's bad parenting."

Laxus answered, "Then I'm a bad parent. Let's go inside."

The little blonde was lost in amazement in the fancy little boutique filled with kid's clothes and he learned shopping with a little girl was an interesting experience. She tried on outfits, asked for his opinion, ignored it, changed again, and then repeated the process although by the time it was over, he grew tired of her indecision and instructed the clerk to send 'one of everything' to the palace.

Once they left, she grabbed back onto his arm. "You shouldn't spoil me too much. I'll turn into a brat."

"You're already a brat."

Mavis smiled and then seemed deep in thought.

They settled into a secluded table in the restaurant of her choosing, which was actually one of his favorites as well. She still seemed to be thinking about something, which was a little troubling as Mavis had enough brain power a subject must have been serious if it took excessive amounts of her attention.

"The desserts look so interesting!" she mused as she looked over the menu.

"You were thinking that hard about what you want to eat? You want dessert first?"

Mavis wagged her finger at him. "You're not supposed to say that. You're supposed to make me eat a nutritious meal first, with protein and vegetables. And then I can have dessert."

"I feel like you're the parent right now and I'm the child."

"You said it, not me."

After they ordered and were sampling hors d'oeuvres, Mavis asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Can I taste your beer?"

He let her get close enough to smell it. When she crinkled her nose, he said, "Go ahead."

"It stinks. No one should drink something that smells that bad."

Mavis was curious about everything and asked a thousand questions an hour at least. About Caelum, about Lucy, about the things he liked and didn't like, his feelings on issues that ranged from people who wore sandals with socks to tariffs.

There were few things in life more important to a little girl than the love of a father. Mavis had watched other little girls and their 'daddies' with a certain sad envy. The 'Dad' experience was far more wonderful than anything she could have imagined, and it came after a nice afternoon of the Mom experience.

XXX

In Brago, Zeref was visiting King Sawarr to discuss a possible alliance. He wasn't confident that he'd win if Fiore and Alvarez came to blows and he'd lost Gajeel and most of the land they'd claimed in Caelum in a fairly short time. Gildarts had appeared, and that was a terrible sign because he could deconstruct a battlefield as he pleased.

The public believed Fiore and Alvarez had diplomatic problems because Ivan killed his sister, but it was a little deeper than that. Fiore had something that he wanted so badly and the entire reason he'd sent his sister there was to gain access to information about that particular thing.

He wanted Fairy Heart, an ancient magical artifact.

Two years of marriage and a baby nobody wanted and his sister had come to the determination that Ivan didn't know where it was. His sister got distracted and entertained a spy from Alvarez who was working in the palace. Her extramarital affair was quickly found out by Ivan's dolls and was brought to an end in the bottom of a bathtub.

Fiore also possessed several people Zeref felt he more or less owned. The Strauss family, a group of siblings whose parents were soldiers, and his brother, Natsu, who defected to Fiore to follow Lisanna.

He was surprised to find Ivan in the court of King Sawarr, but then again, as stupid and as petty as he was, there were probably things he knew that were potentially valuable. The whole affair where Ivan armed rebels in their country was a ridiculous farce and Zeref honestly didn't care if anyone died or lived.

The two men happened to cross one another in a quiet hallway. No eye contact was exchanged, but when Zeref nearly reached the end of the hall, Ivan said, "I know where it is."

He froze and turned. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Fairy Heart."

Zeref and Ivan faced each other and the former asked, "What do you want?"

"To be king of Fiore. It's my right, after all."

"That's a high asking price."

Ivan replied, "You want the most powerful magic relic in the world. You can have a hundred nations once you have it."

Zeref said, "This is true. I suppose I'll let you handle the scraps. I doubt there will be anything left of Fiore once I'm done anyway. This way."

They went into a small, empty meeting room and once the door was closed, Ivan said, "Fairy Heart used to be kept under the palace under a series of magic seals. I didn't know anything about it and my father never spoke of it. Only he knew the magic to break the seals."

"It's been removed from its protection?"

Ivan nodded. "When my son was a teenager, he had an illegitimate child. Mavis was born very premature, and he brought it to the palace. My father sent Laxus back to the battlefront when the baby was a newborn because she got an infection and wasn't going to make it. But my father is a pathetic sap and he couldn't bear to let the baby die. He enchanted Fairy Heart into her body."

Zeref was so amused by this knowledge he couldn't help but smirk. "Fairy Heart is in the body of a helpless little girl?"

"Yes."

"That's such wonderful news. Is there anything else I need to know?"

Ivan said, "No, that's everything. My father doesn't know that I know. But with my magic, I have ears everywhere."

Zeref gave him a rather sad expression. "It was foolish for you to tell me this. I'm going to kill that little girl, your son, your father, probably millions of Fiorans...but the first person I have to get rid of is you."

It only took the slightest touch, and there was a gasp and a thud and Zeref retired to his room to begin planning.

 _ **Please Review!**_

 _ **Special thanks to awesomegirl3362, kpanda100, yumeyumi1986, keylucylover, tiernank, guest, hm akhlys, kurahieiritr JIO, edelweisswhitetigerm guest, ladyallyssa, thefangirlingfanboy, megumiyoung, chan19, lucyxlaxus, damnedcharm, and cosmo333 for reviewing!**_


	8. Royal Revelations

The princess had a fantastic biological clock. She could predict, usually within a three hour range, when her period was going to start. On the calendar she kept in her nightstand drawer, she'd circled Tuesday the 18th as the day of doom.

She had assumed her unusual exhaustion was due to PMS, or possibly having a husband with a ridiculous sexual appetite who kept her up late almost every night.

Yet it was now the 25th, and no sign of her usually unwanted monthly visitor.

There were no other symptoms: no cliched kneeling over the toilet, tender breasts, etc., She was tired and she hadn't had a period. It wasn't dramatic, but she had a solid suspicion that her missing visitor might be due to the fact another visitor had set up camp in her womb.

Since she felt fine, she still had doubts, and wanted to call her missing period a one-off and go on with it.

Laxus groaned and sat up, checking the clock as she tucked her calendar back into the drawer. "'Morning, Princess."

"Good morning, Prince Crazy Hair."

Due to the fact that his hair was already crazy by itself, he usually woke up looking like someone who had either an incredibly good or incredibly terrible night. Lucy found this cute, as his hair in all of its peculiarity was quite soft and fun to play with.

They smiled at each other and kissed their good mornings, and laid there quietly. Under the covers, she put her hands on her belly and wondered if she could really be pregnant. It didn't feel real, yet, it was exciting. As someone who had wholly struggled against the idea of motherhood for years, now that she might be facing it, it didn't feel at all like she expected.

Maybe it was because she fell in love with the handsome rascal of a prince, or maybe she'd grown up a little or both, but there was something magical about the idea that she might be carrying his baby inside of her. This caused her to blush deeply, which he noticed.

"What is it, Babe?"

"Nothing!"

Lucy sat up and pulled the sheets up to cover her breasts, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She was about to tell him she thought she might be pregnant when there was a knock on their bedroom door.

Makarov's voice came from the other side, but his tone was a little shaky. "Laxus, I need to speak with you immediately. Something has happened."

Laxus slid out of the bed and pulled on his pajama pants and a t-shirt before he slipped out into the hallway outside of the lavish suite. When he saw his grandfather, he was taken aback by how devastated he looked.

"What's wrong?"

Makarov evenly said, "Your father...my son...Ivan is dead, Laxus."

The king started shaking, his bottom lip trembling, because in his mind a thousand thoughts were looping to and fro:

 _Would Ivan be alive if he hadn't been banished?_

 _Was it a coincidence he was last seen by a servant with Zeref?_

 _Did he know about it?_

 _And-most importantly-did he tell?_

There were no easy answers to any of these questions. His proximity to Zeref and the resentment he probably felt were more than enough to make Makarov ask questions.

He felt devastated his terrible son had died in a state of morally depraved dishonor, and terrified he might have let out the country and the family's most dangerous secret.

Laxus didn't know what to think, or say, or feel. His relationship with his father was complicated even beyond his own understanding, and the feeling that rose up, which intense, was also strangely ambiguous. It tasted like some mix of anger, resentment, relief, and apathy, stirred together with a bunch of stale offenses he'd rather not remember.

"How did he die?" Laxus asked.

His grandfather soberly answered, "It seems he died from a heart attack, but the last person he was seen with was Zeref. Within an hour of being with him, he'd dropped dead."

"Zeref killed him."

Makarov nodded.

His grandson seemed pensive, as he had a strange connection to Zeref. He was his uncle by blood, but he'd never acknowledged him as such and they never regarded one another as family. Supposedly, Zeref was still pissed about the death of his mother, but Laxus always doubted that was the real cause.

Laxus asked, "I feel like there's something I don't know about Zeref and this family."

His grandfather said, "There is."

"Do I need to know?"

Makarov nodded. "Let's have some coffee."

The king poured two cups of black coffee and they sat together in the breakfast room, each seemingly waiting for the other to speak.

Finally, the king said, "During the feudal states era, when dragons and humans were at war, there was a massive battle. Many dragons and people were killed as a result of the battle. A celestial spirit wizard of the Heartfilia line used celestial magic to bind the magic into a solid form, thus creating Fairy Heart. Zeref wants it more than anything. He has no other interest in Fiore."

"A magic relic?"

"The most powerful magic relic in the world. Zeref has wanted it for a very long time. That's the reason your mother was here, Laxus. At the time, your father didn't know anything about it so it was fruitless. Traditionally, only the king knows anything about it. It was kept for centuries in a special place under the palace behind twelve magic seals."

His grandson asked, "Where is it now?"

Makarov said, "When Mavis was born, she was born too early. The reason I sent you away right after she was born was because I didn't want you to know she was going to die. She got an infection. Her lungs weren't strong enough. We started to lose her and healing magic couldn't fix the fact her little body couldn't stay alive. I couldn't bear the idea of having to tell you she died, or watching you try and cope with a dead child on top of everything else. I enchanted Fairy Heart into her body so it would keep her alive."

Laxus listened and felt fear surge inside of him at the idea that the greatest desire of the most evil man on the planet was inside of his tiny daughter's body. He wanted to be angry as hell about it, but at the core of everything, if Makarov had done the sane and normal thing, Mavis would have died as a newborn. He couldn't imagine a world without Mavis, which was a world where he had to wake up every day and know his baby was dead.

"Can it be removed?"

"There's no way to remove it without killing her. It's sealed up right now, so she doesn't know it is there and neither does anyone else she meets. Porlyusica knows. I feel like Ivan might have learned by spying with his puppets during the time she was born. I know that he was at that time because he knew Mavis was your daughter, and no one told him."

Laxus knew his father had known, but all this complicated his life and made him very fearful for Mavis.

He sipped his coffee as the gears of his mind turned slowly in some areas and ridiculously fast on other thoughts. Then he arrived at a conclusion that filled him with nearly blinding rage. "You think that Ivan betrayed Mavis to Zeref."

"I am very fearful that has happened."

As if on cue, the bubbly little blonde bounced into the room with a big smile and gave them both a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning, Dad! Good morning, Gramps! After breakfast, I want to go visit Porlyusica, is that okay?"

Her pet pig trailed behind at her feet letting out a constant series of happy 'Good Morning' grunts.

"No."

It was the first time Laxus had denied her, and she seemed a little shocked at first.

"For a little while, I need you to stay close. I don't want you wandering the grounds. Don't leave this apartment unless you're with myself, Gramps, or Lucy. Do you understand?"

Mavis looked down and nodded. "I understand, Dad."

She was a little bewildered, but out of respect for the fact that she finally had a father, she didn't question him. Free-spirited from birth, the idea of having her freedom to wander about taken from her both hurt her and made her worried since she was just smart enough to know there was a reason for the rule. She was committed to being the best daughter to her new parents, so she resolved within herself to simply trust her father and obey him.

A knock on the door signaled breakfast had arrived, and after Laxus opened the door to the servants, they served a brunch of waffles, fruit, eggs, and bacon that left Mavis starry-eyed.

"Little one, we need to tell you something so you don't find out from anyone else," Makarov said.

Laxus was opposed to interrupting her breakfast with any nonsense about Ivan, but since he was still very new at parenting, he let his grandfather do what he felt was best.

"What is it?"

Makarov said, "Prince Ivan passed away."

Mavis seemed blank for a minute, and then her next reaction was to look up at her father. "Your dad? Our Prince Ivan?"

Laxus nodded.

"Dad, are you sad? Gramps?"

The dragonslayer shook his head. "You know how he was, right?"

Mavis looked down. "Yes...but he's still your dad."

"Kid, I'm okay."

Mavis didn't seem convinced by this and boldly said, "You don't have to be so tough, Dad. I'm here for you."

Laxus had seen this little tendency in her before and it was both cute and more than a little heartwarming when she, the baby he'd made, tried to take care of him.

His mature response to this was to steal a piece of bacon from her plate and say, "You're the kid. I'm the dad."

"Are you sure? Sometimes I think you're obviously the kid, which would make me the dad. I don't really look like a dad, you know," she argued as she reached over and stole a strawberry from him.

Makarov grinned at their usual banter, and knew that even though Laxus would decline any direct sympathy, his daughter's presence was in and of itself the best medicine for him.

It pained the patriarch that after everything, Mavis might now be in danger.

Lucy had yet to come out of the bedroom, and Makarov asked, "Your wife is sleeping?"

"She's been really exhausted lately," he answered.

"Sleeping for two?" the king asked.

Laxus nervously sipped his orange juice. "Maybe."

Mavis brightened, never one to miss a hint. "Mom is going to have a baby?! Really?"

Her father quickly said, "Probably not. Calm down, Mavis. And don't bother your mother about it."

"Can I name the baby?!" she eagerly asked.

"...Mavis…"

The little girl said, "Oh I just hope it's a little boy! Then you'll have an heir and I'll have a baby brother. I'll just spoil him to death, you know! I'll teach him all about walking and talking and about being a good little prince. I'll be the best sister ever. I can babysit too, so you and Mom don't always have to watch him. Oh, maybe there will be twins, or triplets or-"

Laxus let out a long sigh as the girl babbled on into a state of incoherency.

"OH! The baby could be Makarov the Second!"

Makarov was internally torn by grief, but the strange thing to him about the grieving process was that life still had its ordinary pace. His son was dead, yet the sun still rose, Mavis was still cute, work still needed to be done, and just like that, they all shifted to move on in life without part of their family.

The king cracked the slightest hint of a smile. "That's a good idea."

"Not gonna happen, ever," his grandson quickly said.

Mavis said, "We could have a vote. All in favor of naming the baby after Gramps say 'Aye!'"

Laxus was unamused with a chorus of two, the oldest and youngest members of the Dreyar family. "Yeah, that's not how any of that works. Have all the votes you want, nothing I made is going to be called Makarov. And again, you are both way ahead of yourselves."

Makarov sipped his coffee and tried to calm himself by focusing on what was going on right before him rather than thinking about his son. Ivan was like a cancerous sore that had already been cut away, and it hurt the king to realize his son never really did anything he could truly look back on and be proud of.

Lucy came out of the bedroom looking tired despite the twelve hours of sleep she'd had, and still in her robe, sat down at the table with crazy hair and attacked her breakfast ravenously while everyone stared at her. She had a mouth over-stuffed with waffles when she looked up and saw everyone was just watching her eat.

Lucy felt comfortable enough with her family to be very casual, so being in a robe with unkempt hair wasn't too much of a problem. The Dreyars were a casual bunch behind closed doors and all of them were guilty of wearing pajamas longer than was necessary or proper. They walked around barefoot and did things only 'common' people normally did, like eat sardines.

So she was dismayed to have all of them observing her as she ate, because first of all, it was weird, and secondly, she was just really, really hungry.

Mavis sweetly said, "We had a vote. We're going to name the baby Makarov."

Laxus sighed.

Makarov chuckled.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at the Dreyars, which spanned across four generations and all had the same somewhat mischievous sparkle in their eyes. "Maybe I'll finish my breakfast in my room. Or in the garden. Maybe on the moon!"

Mavis decided she'd caused enough gleeful mischief, took the last bite of her food and abruptly left the table, giggling and muttering something about being a great big sister.

Once she was gone, Laxus said, "Lucy, I don't mean to piss on the mood because I'm pretty sure today is supposed to be a good day for us, but Ivan died."

Lucy felt stunned at first, and then sad for Makarov and Laxus both.

Makarov changed the subject quickly, because he didn't want this moment to be about Ivan. "I've already assigned making arrangements to senior officials. There's no reason to talk about it. Seems like there's something much better to dwell on today."

He forced himself to smile at Lucy, who looked down at her belly. "How did you guys decide I'm pregnant exactly? I'm a little lost there."

Laxus said, "Babe, you've been sleeping and eating a lot and you've started growling at people. You have either become pregnant or you're turning into a bear. Hopefully, the former. I don't really dig a lot of hair."

Lucy kicked him under the table and blushed furiously. "Could you not say stuff like that in front of your grandfather? God, this family is so weird."

This was how they talked about the possibility of being pregnant, and it was somehow fitting.

Makarov was a nosy old man, but watching the newlyweds gave him hope and encouraged him more than they knew. The Dreyar family had a long run of sorry luck when it came to family and the devastation of Ivan's terrible life and death was eclipsed by the promise of a new generation, of bubbly little Mavis and maybe a new baby too.

The king was so relieved the two newlyweds were taking the idea of pregnancy in stride. Lucy kept looking down at her belly while she ate and Laxus occasionally cut his eyes downward as if he was trying to see for himself. They seemed hopeful, and a little eerily calm, like they knew it was a little premature to panic. They were comfortable with each other, and he could see there was a great deal of trust and love between them.

And maybe, he wondered, it was necessary for the bad part of the family to be removed to make way for the new growth. Their family was famous for sprawling gardens, and one thing Makarov knew from watching the gardeners was that the best growth usually came after a painful cut.

His grandson was, for the first time in a long time, acting like a true leader. If Lucy was uneasy about being pregnant, he seemed very comfortable and calm although Makarov knew it might be harder for him. Learning how to lead and be strong for a family was probably the best preparation for becoming king, and Makarov found himself so grateful for his granddaughter in law as she was helping him grow into the role beautifully.

Makarov said, "I have a few things to take care of with Ivan, then meetings. Laxus, you're scheduled to attend the economic advisory panel...I'll cancel that appearance if you want to go see Porlyusica."

Laxus nodded, and Lucy said, "I want to go. I've saw the list of speakers and I think it would be so exciting to go."

"Yes, that's a good plan, Lucy. I'll go ask Porlyusica if you're pregnant and you can be somewhere else," he playfully quipped.

"Oh, right."

After Lucy finished her breakfast, part of her husband's, she carried a banana off to their room as she felt like she'd want to eat it in a few minutes. Once they were alone, Laxus explained the situation concerning Mavis and Lucy listened intently, feeling the same worry her husband and grandfather-in-law did.

They discussed strategies for protecting her and all different aspects and angles, and Lucy eventually coaxed him into a little optimism. There was no confirmation Ivan said anything, and even if he did, Mavis was rarely more than an arm's length from a world-famous wizard who could protect her.

And then she went for the banana, her breakfast settled just enough.

Laxus was fascinated by the imagery, and watched intently until she saw him staring and took a huge bite, snapping her teeth together.

He jumped and said, "Sheesh."

"You're childish."

"I was having a thought."

"Obviously."

Halfway through putting her hair up in a ponytail, it struck her that she might be on the verge of finding out she was going to have a baby. Her nerves almost made her shiver, but he smiled as he buttoned up his shirt.

"It's alright. You're a good mom to Mavis already. I think a baby will be a piece of cake for you," he said.

Lucy looked at him and asked, "How do you feel?"

He cracked a little grin. "A little excited. I'm kind of imagining you cute and fat."

"Fat?! Fat?! Fat. Fat...Fat! Laxus, what…"

She grabbed the nearest pillow and tackled him to the bed, crawled on top of him, and held the pillow over his face. "Listen really carefully, Mister. I'm not going to smother you to death because I think you just have bad taste in adjectives. But let me just take this time to let you know if you ever refer to me as fat, I will break your nose and your spirit."

He raised his hands in defeat and she lifted the pillow.

"Now, rephrase without using the word 'fat.'"

Laxus sat up on his elbows and said, "I think you will look cute when your belly is...round?"

"I'm gonna let you you live, but only because if I'm pregnant, I don't want to raise this kid by myself."

He said, "About that. Maybe you shouldn't play so rough?"

"Oh...right."

She got off of him and straightened out her clothes. "I don't really know how to be delicate."

"That explains a lot."

"Shut up!"

Getting ready to go anywhere with Prince Laxus was like trying to get dressed with an anxious toddler. She put her shirt on, and he tried to take it off. She tried to fix her hair, he whined for attention. She was smoothing on lip gloss when he asked if they could have fun before they left.

And she decided that being married was helping her prepare to take care of an immature, attention-hungry, disruptive baby. At heart, that was what he was. When she thought about it, even his post-coital comatose reminded her of one of the servants at her home whose child would run constantly and then suddenly fall asleep once his energy was gone. In a nutshell, that was Laxus.

They were about to leave when Mavis suddenly joined them. "I wanted to see Porlyusica, so can I come, please? We could have lunch with her and visit with her, and I bet she's missed me lots and lots!"

"Are you already thinking about food again?" Laxus asked.

Mavis gave him a starry-eyed baby daughter look, "Maybe we could have a fancy salad with fish or a nice soup with some Gruyere cheese sandwiches with tomato or Caesar salad with grilled chicken or…"

Mavis _loved_ food. She didn't necessarily eat a lot of it, but she liked to eat a small amount of a large number of things throughout the day. Lucy was also a professional snacker, but she'd been into some heavy-duty eating over the past few days. Laxus had caught them sneaking through the kitchen to sample everything the chefs were making on more than one occasion.

They really were like mother and daughter, no matter the lack of blood relations, it was like they were always supposed to be together and he was so happy their family was snapping together like it wasn't made from damaged pieces.

Laxus looked up at Lucy, who sighed. "Okay, you can come, but you have to stay with your Dad while I'm with the doctor. Then we'll think about food afterward."

"We could start thinking about food right now. About some ribs with thick sauce, maybe some macaroni and cheese, oh, little slices of lemon tart!" Mavis replied.

Lucy realized she was somehow already hungry again.

They left from the palace and walked through the huge garden at the center of the palace grounds toward the doctor's small house where Mavis had spent much of her early life. It was surrounded by a patches of medicinal herbs and warnings not to step on them. Anyone who had been around the palace knew there was hell to pay for damaging Porlyusica's plants.

The family entered the front room and Mavis took in the herby, medicinal scent of her former home. "Porly!"

The old woman's face softened for just a minute when Mavis ran to her and hugged her legs. "Ah, you've come back?"

Lucy smiled and said, "Can I speak to you privately?"

The doctor nodded and they went into an exam room, and Lucy slammed the door before Laxus could follow her. He shrugged and sat in one of the chairs in this makeshift waiting room, and Mavis sat with him.

He thought about his dad, and about a thousand memories he couldn't get rid of: being yelled at as a tiny child, feeling weak and unworthy, seething rage, unending disappointment...and when he looked at the little girl next to him, none of it made sense.

Didn't Ivan ever just look at him as his child and see him as wonderful?

In the exam room, Porlyusica crossed her arms. "Are you ill?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Well, I'm a doctor. That's typically why people visit. Would you like my opinion on the weather?" the old woman sarcastically asked.

Lucy bashfully said, "I think I might be pregnant. I've been tired and hungry lately."

The door opened and Laxus asked, "Do you need anything?"

"I need you to stop being nosy," Lucy answered.

Porlyusica opened a cabinet and pulled out a specimen kit and an open-backed robe. "I need a urine sample, and then out on this robe."

Laxus asked, "Do you need help?"

His wife clenched her fists at her sides. "Why in the HELL would I need you to help me pee?!" she roared as she slammed the door shut again and then locked.

"I've always wondered how anyone puts up with that man…" Porlyusica said.

Lucy went to the small bathroom and completed her task without the help of her husband.

('Amazing!' She noted in a sarcastically muttered to herself.)

When she returned it to Porlyusica, the woman opened it, threw some powder and some magic potion in while Lucy sat on the edge of the bed in the robe. The liquid turned a dark color of green, and the woman asked, "What are your symptoms?"

"Just really tired and hungry."

"Your period is late?"

"Just a week."

The doctor said, "You _are_ indeed pregnant."

Lucy gasped and looked down. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," the doctor curtly replied, "Remember as you carry this child that you may be carrying the future king of Fiore. It's very important for you to take care of yourself. I'm going to need to do a pelvic exam, if you could lay back.

There were metal instruments and gloves and Lucy found herself on her back, legs in stirrups while cold metal touched her in all kinds of places. She'd never had a pelvic exam before, and was surprised by how terrible it actually was. The discomfort of the exam was an immediate issue, but in the back of her mind, it suddenly hit her that she was actually pregnant, there was actually a baby inside of her, and she was actually going to give birth in a few short months.

She and Mavis were feeling each other out as mother and daughter, and that was a surprisingly natural process. The eight-year-old was more than capable of independence and was completely self-sufficient. A baby was a totally different story.

Lucy was absolutely lost in her thoughts to the point she almost forgot there was a person sitting in between her legs looking at her lady bits.

Porlyusica asked her a long string of questions, and finally let her put her legs down, instructing her to lay flat on her back. The robe was pulled up, and the doctor put a magical listening device against her bare skin. It moved across her skin, almost tickling her.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered.

"That's right," the doctor said, seeming just a little softer than usual for a moment.

A strange noise suddenly started to come from the device.

"There it is," Porlyusica said.

The sound seemed so fast it almost reminded her of big raindrops falling. "Is that...its heartbeat? Can Laxus come hear?"

Porlyusica paused briefly to let the nosy dragon in, and he sat down next to the bed where Lucy's robe was pulled up and her bottom half was covered by the sheet. The device found the sound again, and Laxus' brows rose.

"The princess is approximately seven weeks pregnant, and everything looks great so far."

"Seven weeks?" he asked in question.

There was a long technical explanation of what 'seven weeks' meant, and it was actually a lot more complicated than he expected. "So seven weeks, doesn't mean seven weeks since...jizz time."

His wife and the doctor both stared at him in disbelief.

Lucy asked, "What is wrong with you?!"

"I don't understand."

The blonde let out a long, slow sigh. "When we get home, I will explain. Okay?"

"Okay."

Porlyusica watched this exchange with fascination. She assumed that because the princess hadn't checked into a facility or left that Laxus must have grown up, but this was false. He was still the same as always, antagonizing at every turn. The princess seemed to be almost supernaturally gifted in dealing with him.

The doctor gave them a list of do's and don'ts, and told Lucy she was going to send vitamins, supplements, and books over later in the day. "I think at maybe books with a lot of pictures might help your husband understand a little better. Words have never been his forte."

All during the conversation, the little sound continued, and Lucy smiled at her husband.

She remembered that their family unit was more than just them and knew this was something Mavis would have wanted to share in. "Go get Mavis, okay?"

Laxus let the little girl in and she jetted to Lucy's side.

"There's a baby, right?!"

Lucy nodded. "There is."

Mavis looked up at Porlyusica. "Just one? Not twins or triplets or quadruplets or quintuplets or sextuplets or septuplets or octuplets or-"

Laxus asked, "Just how many do you want to be in there? Geeze."

"I can't wait! I'll be the best sister to your twins or triplets or-"

"There's only one baby, Mavis. One is enough, trust me," the doctor answered.

Mavis beamed at Lucy and said, "You're going to have a baby! Even if there's just one, that's so amazing and I can't wait!"

The girl listened to the heartbeat and talked a thousand miles an hour about her objectives and goals as a big sister while Lucy and Laxus stared at each other in surprise for a little while.

The princess certainly wouldn't have planned to get married and have babies so young if she had no obligations and was mapping out only her own fate, but she found an excited sense of bliss started to set in as she lay there and digested the fact that she had a person growing inside of her.

Laxus took Mavis out so Lucy could dress again, and the doctor gave her some last advisories on everything from sex to diet to schedule and exercise.

Lucy invited Porlyusica to lunch with them in the garden, and somehow, the old doctor accepted. The princess believed she probably missed Mavis even though Mavis slipped off to visit her and help her pick herbs every day.

Meanwhile, Laxus and Mavis were sitting in the waiting area when the girl asked, "Dad, do you think my real parents were ever happy I was going to be born? I wonder, how did they felt when it was their day to find out?"

He said, "We're happy you were born, so you don't have to worry about stuff like that."

It was a more pleasant answer than the truth, which was that he threw up when the girl told him she was expecting and spent an unacceptably long part of the pregnancy begging the mother to take a magic potion and get rid of Mavis. As a mature adult, he felt ashamed of that, and he was scared to tell Mavis he'd ever felt that way.

He knew someday, he'd have to explain himself to her.

XXX

The next few days seemed to go by faster than normal for the married couple.

Makarov managed to keep it together until the night after the funeral, when there was a bitter thunderstorm pouring outside. For some reason, it made him want to weep and while he was fighting that urge as he sat on the sofa and looked out the window, he felt his grandson's hand come to rest on his shoulder.

And that made him cry if nothing else in the world did.

Their family was finally some kind of okay. There were happy newlyweds, a stable family with a joyful little girl, a new baby on the way...it was like they couldn't be okay as long as Ivan was there. He was an anchor of dysfunction, and now as a family, they were able to love one another.

Laxus threw a handkerchief on his lap once he started to calm down. "Gramps, you never change."

"I'm so proud of you."

"What on earth for?"

"For being a good man, despite everything that happened to you. Losing your mother, having Mavis when you were so young, your father..." the old man sniffed.

The dragonslayer said, "I'm fucking awesome, now cut it out."

He sense movement at his periphery and found Mavis standing in the hallway.

The girl tensed. "Having Mavis when you were so young…" she repeated, the syllables seeming strange and foreign to her. She seemed scared as she looked up at Laxus and whimpered, "What does that mean? Am I...Are you..."

Laxus' eyes widened and he knew there was no explaining it away. Mavis was smart enough that now that she had the idea, she'd be able to put it all together. That much he was sure of.

"Mavis…"

She asked again, "Are you also my birth father?"

He didn't have any excuses and he didn't feel like she deserved a lie. So he looked directly into her eyes and said, "Yes."

Mavis took a step back, and then again another and then turned and ran to her room, attempting to slam the door behind her. Her father followed and caught it right before it slammed, and found she seemed lost in her own mind for a minute. The edges of the room seemed to melt, which meant he was about to be lost in her mind too.

"Mavis, it's okay. Don't let your magic get out of hand again," he warned.

"I don't understand!" she shrieked.

He came near her and she threw a fist right into his chest in a frantic pounding motion that continued as she cried and crumbled to the floor. Once her legs had folded beneath her, she covered her face and began to sob violently.

Laxus didn't know what to say or do, and Makarov was equally at a loss but perplexed further by the guilt of having been the one that let it slip.

Mavis cried until she was numb and when she reached that point, she decided to keep crying until she was a limp noodle her father gently placed on her bed. She rolled over and put her back to him when he sat down next to her.

"Are you angry?" he asked.

She didn't even answer, and as minutes ticked by, she refused to acknowledge his presence. He stayed right where he was and waited patiently for her to process what she'd learned.

Mavis finally rolled over on her back and asked, "Who am I? Where did I come from? Where is my birth mother?"

"You're you. You came from me. Your mother died the night you were born," he said.

The girl asked, "What was she like? Do I look like her? Are there any pictures of her?"

Laxus said, "She was beautiful, and you look just like her. She was a model, so I could find you some pictures pretty easily."

"Was she a good person?"

The truth was that her mother was a lying, gold-digging, power-hungry extortionist that made him miserable and only chose to have the baby to continue exploiting him, but he wasn't about to tell that to Mavis, so he said, "All people have a little good in them."

"Did you love her?"

He shook his head. "The first girl I loved was you, kid. I was so young and so stupid when you were born. I made a lot of choices that might have been good for Fiore, but they were bad for me and they were worse for you."

Mavis knew more about the laws of Fiore than he did, so as blinded as she was by her feelings, as her breathing calmed, she realized her life was a scandalous thing. She was great at math; her father was seventeen when she was born, unmarried, and there were no records of him even having a history with women.

"I was with Porlyusica once when she delivered a baby. The dad wasn't there, and I asked why. Porlyusica said sometimes people become parents when they don't mean to be. D-Did you mean for me to be born? Was I like your new baby or was I just something bad that happened to you?!" she cried.

Laxus said, "You were the best thing that ever happened to me, Mavis. None of the rest of it matters. How or why or whatever...we're here, right? And we're together."

The girl seemingly let go of the knot in her heart at that statement. "You did your best? Not for me but for Fiore."

"I'm sorry."

Mavis smiled a little. "It's okay. I'm a royal by blood, you know. Every royal has to make big sacrifices for their country. We gave up some time we should have had together, but that's over now."

"You understand why I can't tell everyone you're my daughter by blood?"

She nodded. "I don't care about any of that. I have more freedom like this anyway, right? I can go live out in the world and go on adventures and I don't have to worry about duty."

Sadly, Laxus knew with Fairy Heart inside of her, she'd probably never be permitted to be as free as she imagined herself.

"I'm curious, Dad."

For the next two hours, Laxus laid next to her on her enormous canopy bed, answering her questions. Some things he was honest about like his feelings and motives, because he felt like she needed to know he did care about her all those years. He glazed over details about her mother as he didn't want Mavis to think she was the spawn of a she-devil.

She asked him a lot of questions about himself, about things that had little to do with her, as if she was trying to feel him out. Her voice became softer, her words slower, her body a little closer until she finally slumped onto his chest and fell asleep.

Lucy encountered Makarov while searching for her husband as it was well past the time she wanted to be asleep and when he told her about what happened, she quietly entered Mavis' room and found her sound asleep snuggled up to her dad, who had nodded off.

She covered them with a blanket and remembered that Mavis told her the one thing she wanted more than anything when she was a tiny little girl was to sleep between her parents. She had no parents so on nights when she felt scared or alone or sad, she was only by herself.

Maybe Mavis was too old for such things, but their family was a work in progress and while Lucy balanced meetings with the ambassador to Caelum and her other duties with her growing family, she knew not everything was so simple and not everything was so perfect.

Adoption was a beautiful but messy process, and Lucy was as committed as ever to their little family and to little Mavis. Sometimes that meant taking emotional risks and being brave, or doing things that might not make sense to anyone else. She'd fallen in love with Mavis as much as her father at that point, and they both just really needed Lucy's bold brand of love. They knew that, and she knew that.

Lucy got under the blanket and snuggled up close, and fell asleep quickly.

When Mavis awoke in the middle of the night, she was effectively sandwiched between her two parents. Even though she was still a little shaken, it was impossible to second-guess whether or not her parents loved her when she was nestled so close. She felt safe and warm, and the part of her that craved parental intimacy for so long settled within her mind.

Regardless of who her birth mother was, or the circumstances that led to her life being made, she knew she was loved and that was all she'd ever wanted. She closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of her father and closed her eyes, sighed happily, and went back to sleep.

 _ **Please Review!**_

Special thanks to yumeyumi1986, flamey owl, kaylucylover, ninjapenguinlover, kpanda100, lunastarlady, wolverkits7, megumiyoung, edelweisswhitetiger, kurahieiritr JIO, Cosmo333, Ladyallyssa, and saskiarosee for reviewing!


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